Already with a title (2018) and a runner-up (2022) in the World Cup at the age of 27, French national team striker Kylian Mbappé, from Real Madrid, sees before him the opportunity to take on the role of football’s protagonist once and for all.
The duo responsible for dominating the spotlight over the last few decades, Lionel Messi, 38, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, are about to compete in their last World Cup, inevitably far from their physical peak. They still have ambition and technical quality, but the fast — and also technical — Mbappé has more fuel to burn and the desire to consolidate himself as the main name of his generation.
Performance in the next World Cup could offer him this position. And also the top scorer, which today belongs to retired German Miroslav Klose, with 16 goals. Among the athletes who will be in contention in 2026, in the United States, Mexico and Canada, Messi (13) and Mbappé (12) emerge as challengers.
The three goals in the final against Argentina, in Qatar, in 2022, earned the Frenchman second place in the FIFA (International Football Federation) best in the world election, his best position so far in his career. On that occasion, he lost the main trophy to Messi, leader of the Albiceleste team on their way to their third title.
Since then, Mbappé has reached third place twice in the FIFA award, in 2023 and 2025 — with victories for Messi and his teammate Ousmane Dembélé, respectively — and once in the Ballon d’Or, from France Football, in 2023, also won by the Argentine star.
Throughout this cycle until the World Cup, Kylian left Paris Saint-Germain—in a litigious manner— to Real Madrid and led the French team to the semi-finals of the European Cup and the Nations League, stopping in both competitions in Spain, owned by rising star Lamine Yamal.
A few months after the runner-up with France in Qatar, Mbappé expressed his desire to leave PSG at the end of the 2023/24 season, citing his ambition to seek “new challenges” for his career.
In July 2024, he confirmed the rumors when he was presented by Real Madrid in a packed Santiago Bernabéu. But his start at the Merengue team was overshadowed by a legal dispute against his former club over wages and bonuses and by a rape accusation in Sweden, which ended up being dropped.
To top it all off, he saw PSG overpower Internazionale Milan to win their first and much-coveted Champions League title.
Before his first three clean sheets in the Spanish Championship turned into criticism, however, Mbappé scored both in the 2-0 victory over Real Betis at the Bernabéu.
“Three games without scoring, for other people, is little, but for me it’s a lot,” said Mbappé at the time.
“This is a great moment. I was hoping to score in this mythical stadium, the best in the world. It’s a dream to be here. I hope to score more goals and receive more ovations”, added the Frenchman, applauded by the 70,000 present in the stands.
In his debut season in Madrid, Mbappé scored 44 goals in 59 games and was Espanyol’s top scorer. Despite the goals, he saw Real finish three runners-up to rival Barcelona: in La Liga, in the Spanish Super Cup and in the Copa del Rey.
In the current season, Mbappé accelerated the frequency of balls in the net, with 41 goals in 41 games for the team. He is the current top scorer in Espanyol and the Champions League.
However, with a group that failed to find the necessary chemistry under the command of coaches Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa, Real finds itself once again in second place in the Espanyol table, far from leaders Barcelona.
In the Champions League, the team stopped in the quarterfinals, with two defeats to Bayern Munich.
Recovered from an injury to his left knee that left him sidelined for about a month, between February and March, Mbappé has the World Cup as his greatest chance of entering the fight for the best in the world trophy.
In recent statements, the striker demonstrated confidence in the performance of the two-time champion team (1998 and 2018) at the World Cup.
“France is the most talented team. However, it is not yet the strongest. It is, rather, the one with the greatest potential. The potential of this team is infinite,” Mbappé told L’Équipe.
“Does this current team have the potential to be the best on the planet? Yes, 100%. Will it be? That will depend on ourselves. We always have to be ambitious when we have players of this quality”, added the French team’s second top scorer, with 56 goals, one shy of Olivier Giroud’s record.
