PHILADELPHIA: France captain Kylian Mbappe joined German legend Miroslav Klose as the joint second-highest goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history after scoring twice during France’s Group-stage clash against Iraq.
The 27-year-old forward took his overall World Cup tally to 16 goals, drawing level with Klose and moving within two goals of Lionel Messi’s all-time record of 18 goals.
Mbappe first scored in the 14th minute to give France the lead against Iraq and reach 15 World Cup goals on his 100th international appearance. The move came down the right side, where he combined with Michael Olise.
After the initial pass was blocked, Olise regained the ball and set up Mbappe at the edge of the box. Mbappe then hit a powerful left-footed shot, and although goalkeeper Ahmed Basil got a touch to it, he could not prevent the goal.
Mbappe’s second goal came in the 54th minute after a costly mistake by the Iraqi defence and goalkeeper Ahmed Basil. The error came when defender Rebin Sulaka played a short pass back towards Basil following a goal kick.
The goalkeeper failed to control the ball properly under pressure from Ousmane Dembele, allowing France to win possession in a dangerous area. Dembele then squared the ball to Mbappe, who made no mistake and tapped into an empty net to double France’s lead.
The goal took Mbappe’s World Cup tally to 16, drawing him level with Miroslav Klose and leaving him just two goals behind Lionel Messi’s all-time record of 18.
Earlier in the day, Messi had also created history by surpassing Klose’s long-standing tally of 16 World Cup goals. The Argentina captain scored a brace in his side’s 2-0 victory over Austria to take his overall World Cup tally to 18 goals and become the leading goalscorer in men’s FIFA World Cup history.
Messi had equalled Klose’s record during Argentina’s tournament opener against Algeria before moving clear with his latest brace.
Following Monday’s matches, Messi leads the all-time World Cup scoring charts with 18 goals, while Mbappe and Klose occupy joint second place with 16 goals each.
Brazil legend Ronaldo is next on the list with 15 goals, followed by Germany’s Gerd Muller with 14 and France’s Just Fontaine with 13.
According to the FIFA website, Mbappe also became only the tenth French player to reach the milestone of 100 international appearances for the national team.
Mbappe made his senior debut for France on March 25, 2017, in a 3-1 victory over Luxembourg during the qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. (ANI)
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