That it is not the first nor the last World Cup record, you must be tired of reading. But now Frenchman Kylian Mbappé has isolated himself to a mark that not even Argentine Lionel Messi seems to be very close to.
With the two goals he scored in the 3-0 victory over Sweden in the 32-team stage, this Tuesday (30), France’s number 10 isolated himself as the greatest knockout scorer in history.
Until this edition, he was already in first place, but tied with two Brazilians: Leônidas da Silva and Ronaldo Fenômeno, each with eight goals.
The only point where Mbappé still loses is on average. To date, he has achieved ten goals in nine matches (1.1 goal average per match). Leônidas averages 1.6 goals per game.
In fourth place, with seven goals, are Brazilians Pelé and Vavá, Frenchman Just Fontaine and Czech Oldrich Nejedly.
Messi, who leads the scoring charts in World Cup history (19 goals compared to Mbappé’s 18), has just five in 12 knockout games played.
Mbappé’s first eight knockout goals came in the last two World Cups. In Russia-2018, the year in which France were two-time world champions, they scored three in four games.
In Qatar-2022, he scored five goals in four matches (three of them in the final, when he lost to Messi’s Argentina).
Leônidas remained first in the FIFA rankings from 1938 until 2002. The Brazilian scored goals in decisive games against Spain, in 1934, and then in 1938, against Poland, Czechoslovakia (two matches) and Sweden.
Ronaldo reached Leônidas’ number having scored goals in knockout matches in three different World Cups: three in France-1998, four in Korea/Japan-2002 and one in Germany-2006.
KYLIAN MBAPPÉ
2018
- 2 goals in France 4 x 3 Argentina
- 1 goal in France 4 x 2 Croatia
2022
- 2 goals in France 3 x 1 Poland
- 3 goals in Argentina 3 x 3 France (4 x 2 on penalties)
2026
- 2 goals in France 3 x 0 Sweden
LEÔNIDAS DA SILVA
1934
- 1 goal in Brazil 3 x 1 Spain
1938
- 3 goals in Brazil 6 x 5 Poland
- 1 goal in Brazil 1 x 1 Czechoslovakia
- 1 goal in Brazil 2 x 1 Czechoslovakia (rematch)
- 2 goals in Brazil 4 x 2 Sweden
RONALDO PHENOMENO
1998
- 2 goals in Brazil 4 x 1 Chile
- 1 goal in Brazil 1 x 1 Netherlands (4 x 2 on penalties)
2002
- 1 goal in Brazil 2 x 0 Belgium
- 1 goal in Brazil 1 x 0 Türkiye
- 2 goals in Brazil 2 x 0 Germany
2006
- 1 goal in Brazil 3 x 0 Ghana
