A WORLD CUP WIN OVER POLAND ENHANCES KYLIAN MBAPPE'S BID FOR THE BALLON D'OR

A WORLD CUP WIN OVER POLAND ENHANCES KYLIAN MBAPPE'S BID FOR THE BALLON D'OR

By Rashmi Goel

With his brace against Poland, Kylian Mbappe has gone ahead of footballing legend Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of goals scored at the World Cup. With two goals for Les Bleus in the Round of 16 clashes against Paris Saint-Germain, the 23-year-old added to his already impressive list of goals once again. In the dying seconds of the game, Mbappe launched a powerful shot down the middle of the goal and into the roof of the net, which doubled France's lead over Argentina. At the end of the game, he added a third goal to his tally by curling a lovely effort into the top-right corner of the net.

There have been five goals for the youngster during the current tournament, and nine across all World Cups in which he has participated, putting him ahead of Ronaldo's haul of eight goals during his World Cup career. He has scored in 11 games, nine fewer than the Portuguese legend. With only his second World Cup under his belt, Mbappe is also the first Frenchman to score a minimum of four goals in different tournaments, and he is also at the World Cup for only the second time. He has now been ranked alongside Lionel Messi and David Villa, and he is one point behind both Gary Lineker and Thomas Muller because of his efforts against Poland.

Mbappe also overtook French football legend, Zinedine Zidane, with his first goal of the game, giving him an all-time record for goals with the national team. Mbappe has now scored 33 goals for the French national team, compared to 31 goals by Zidane over the course of the past 12 years. The young Frenchman was also on hand to assist Olivier Giroud on their first goal, with the latter's finish overtaking Thierry Henry's mark of 52 goals overall as France's all-time leading scorer with that performance. The game against Poland was relatively easy for them, and the two-time champions have now reached the quarterfinals of this tournament.