Kylian Mbappe wrote another chapter in the World Cup record books, scoring a brace against Sweden in the Round of 32 that made him the tournament’s all-time leading scorer in knockout-stage matches.
The France captain’s brace marked his tenth goal in a World Cup knockout match, leaving behind a three-way tie with Brazilian greats Leonidas and Ronaldo, who had each scored eight.
It was also Mbappe’s 18th World Cup goal overall, moving him past Miroslav Klose and into outright second place on the all-time World Cup scoring list, behind only Lionel Messi, who currently leads with 19.
How Mbappe’s record stacks up against Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
The number puts real distance between Mbappe and the two players most often compared to him. Lionel Messi, despite playing in 12 World Cup knockout matches across six tournaments, has scored five knockout goals — five fewer than Mbappe, who has needed just eight elimination games to reach ten.
The gap with Cristiano Ronaldo is even more striking. Across 22 World Cup matches and six tournaments, the Portuguese forward has never scored in a knockout match, going scoreless in all six of the elimination games he’s played. Mbappe now has more knockout goals on his own than Messi and Ronaldo have combined.
Breaking down Mbappe’s record
Mbappe’s knockout pedigree dates back to his very first World Cup. As a 19-year-old in 2018, he scored a brace in France’s thrilling 4-3 Round of 16 win over Argentina before adding the winning goal in the final against Croatia, becoming only the second teenager in history to score in a World Cup final, after Pele in 1958.
He doubled down on that reputation in Qatar four years later, scoring in the Round of 16 against Poland before producing a hat trick in the final against Argentina — the first hat trick in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in 1966 — even though France ultimately lost the match on penalties.
