Ibrahim Mbaye could only shake his head. The 18-year-old Senegal forward had just breathed competitive tension into this World Cup game, reducing the French advantage to 2-1 in second-half stoppage time, only for one devastating swish of Kylian Mbappe’s right foot to decide the outcome once and for all.
From Mbappe, it was a display of breathtaking efficiency. When Senegal pulled one back in the 95th minute, disturbing the serenity of the closing stages, Mbappe gestured for calm.
His message? I’ve got this.
In the World Cup, Mbappe usually has it in spades. His two goals against Senegal brought his tally across three World Cups to 14 in 15 games since 2018.
That record comfortably sees off the two defining players of the 21st century, overtaking Lionel Messi’s 13 goals (scored across 26 games) and Cristiano Ronaldo’s eight goals (scored across 22 games).
The Brazilian Ronaldo (15) and Germany’s Miroslav Klose (16) are now the only men to have scored more World Cup goals than Mbappe, who will aim to overtake both during the next five weeks.
He is still only 27 years of age. These goals not only made Mbappe into France’s outright all-time top scorer but also the first player to score two-plus goals in five different World Cup games.
It does not feel like hyperbole to say that Mbappe will soon become recognised as the greatest World Cup player of all time, if we were to judge output and impact within this competition alone.
Not only does Mbappe deliver World Cup goals, but they are almost always game-shaping ones.
Among the 14 goals he has scored at World Cups, nine have either been the opening goal of a game, a goal to put his team ahead in a match, or a goal scored when his team is trailing.
Mbappe’s first finish against Senegal was assured. To borrow Thierry Henry’s framing on Fox Sports, this was France’s MVP, Mbappe, slotting in from a sumptuous pass from Michael Olise, whom Henry describes now as France’s MIP (Most Important Player).
For the final flourish and France’s third, Mbappe took a pass from Olise in his stride, using the space he was afforded to score arguably the best individual goal of the tournament so far.
This was a speed-of-light strike, one that drew the breath of over 80,000 inside MetLife Stadium. The design of the field helpfully separates the lines across the pitch into six-yard chunks, meaning we can guesstimate the velocity of the strike with some rudimentary maths.
Mbappe scoring his second goal on Tuesday (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Mbappe’s distance from the goal appeared to be around 29 yards, and The Athletic’s stopwatch recorded the time between the strike and the ball crossing the goal-line to be 1.03 seconds, yielding a speed of 57.6 miles per hour.
For Mbappe, the World Cup was his happy place once more, quietening some of the noise that has accompanied his game in recent months.
Mbappe scored 42 goals for Real Madrid but only four in his final 13 appearances of the season. This has triggered criticism, an apparent training-ground row and, remarkably, an Mbappe Fuera (Mbappe Out) petition which claims to have collected 96 million signatures — even if the capturing and methodology on that one is hazy, to put it mildly.
Then there are the viral social media memes, photoshopping his likeness onto images of some of history’s worst dictators, implying (more on hearsay than evidence) that he has had a disproportionate role in the hiring or firing of team-mates and coaches, or that he disproportionately influences the style of play within his teams.
In short, a consensus developed which suggests that while Mbappe’s individual numbers always stand out, this does not necessarily mean his performances or contributions are conducive to collective success. Certainly, it does not help his case that his team have gone without the La Liga title for two seasons since he arrived. The perception is only made worse because Paris Saint-Germain, who could never win the Champions League with Mbappe in their team, suddenly won the competition twice without him.
In recent weeks, Mbappe acknowledged he needed to take “the extra step” in his defensive work, insisting he was prepared to win “at all costs.” After Mbappe’s two goals against Senegal, his coach Didier Deschamps pointed out that Mbappe “is not here to defend.”
Even in the first half of this World Cup game, Mbappe attracted criticism. “The problem is that Mbappe wants all the passes for him,” said Claude Makelele, the former Real Madrid midfielder and France international, on co-commentary for DAZN in Spain. “He needs to play with his team-mates. He doesn’t play for the team.”
Mbappe spurned two openings, first mis-controlling very early in the game when picked out by Olise and then denied well by Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Yet Mbappe always believes the next chance will come. “He missed two balls in the first half, but he knows what the World Cup is about,” said Deschamps. “He’s not a player who doubts his abilities.”
Yet as France toiled for over an hour in the New Jersey sunshine, he always appeared the most likely of this star-studded team to be the ultimate difference-maker, even ahead of current Ballon d’Or holder Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue or Olise, all of whom are absurdly talented, but do not yet have the utter inevitability of Mbappe. In a cast of showmen, Mbappe remains the poster boy. “He’s got a global aura due to his decisive talent,” gushed Deschamps.
Kylian Mbappe celebrates with his manager, Didier Deschamp (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Attacking play in international football, particularly at tournament level, is often decided more by moments and characters than the routines and fluency of club football. In that sense, it may be that Mbappe is simply better suited to this form of the sport, particularly within a Deschamps set-up, which appears to leave the forward players to do as they like in the final third.
By now, there have been various incarnations of Mbappe at World Cups. He has been the breakout wonderkid of a World Cup, inspiring France to glory in 2018 while becoming the first teenager since Pele to score in a final. Then, in Qatar, he won the Golden Boot and scored a hat-trick in the final, single-handedly turning it on its head before even his heroics were defeated by a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina.
“People will still criticise him,” Deschamps sighed. “But he’s an iconic player.”
Over on Instagram, Nike, which has a long-term partnership with Mbappe, gave the final word to Eric Cantona, the former France international striker-turned-thespian. He apologised on Mbappe’s behalf.
“Recently, in a certain victory, he only scored two goals. This level of dominance is inconceivable. And I cannot promise that it won’t happen again. Thank you.”
