On Monday 22 June, France secured a convincing 3-0 victory over Iraq, with Kylian Mbappé once again the star of the show.

The French striker scored a brace that secured his side’s place in the next round and, at the same time, cemented his status as the fastest player to reach 16 goals in World Cup history.

In a match that was interrupted for two hours due to thunderstorms in Philadelphia, the captain of Les Bleus opened the scoring early in the 14th minute and extended the lead at the start of the second half.

Far from being intimidated by the records set by Lionel Messi before the match, Mbappé showed that he is cut out for the World Cup and even went so far as to threaten the Argentine’s new record.

With these two goals, Mbappé reached the 16-goal mark in just 16 matches played in the competition and set a goals-per-match average that redefines the standards for early success in the tournament.

Kylian Mbappé, the fastest of all time

The Frenchman’s effectiveness at the World Cup surpasses the records set by the greatest legends of international football at the same stage of the competition.

To be more precise, Mbappé equalled Miroslav Klose’s total of 16 goals, but needed far fewer matches to achieve it.

In fact, he reached this figure much sooner than the other legends who top the World Cup goalscoring charts, such as Messi himself or Ronaldo Nazário.

  • Kylian Mbappé: 16 goals in 16 matches

  • Ronaldo Nazário: 15 goals in 18 matches

  • Miroslav Klose: 16 goals in 20 matches

  • Lionel Messi: 18 goals in 28 matches

Thanks to his formidable performance against Iraq, Mbappé has moved into second place on the list of all-time World Cup top scorers.

And as if that weren’t enough, it’s worth noting that his current average at this World Cup is one goal per match. No more, no less. A staggering impact.

Here is the all-time World Cup top scorers table

  1. Lionel Messi: 18 goals

  2. Kylian Mbappé: 16 goals

  3. Miroslav Klose: 16 goals

  4. Ronaldo Nazário: 15 goals

  5. Gerd Müller: 14 goals

More and more records for Mbappé at the World Cup

As well as his impressive goalscoring average, Mbappé has set yet another record for consistency at the World Cup.

The striker has now become only the fourth player in the history of the World Cup to score two or more goals in at least three consecutive matches in the competition.

With this achievement, the Frenchman joins an extremely exclusive list of legendary strikers who have accomplished this feat at the World Cup:

- Sándor Kocsis (Hungary): 1954

- Guillermo Stábile (Argentina): 1930

- Lionel Messi (Argentina): 2022 and 2026

- Kylian Mbappé (France): 2022 and 2026

At the age of 27, the French striker has drawn level with Klose in the all-time scoring charts and has firmly established himself in the race for the all-time record, currently held by Messi.

His performance against Iraq confirms that his goal-scoring pace at the World Cup is advancing at a speed never seen before and that his mindset is geared towards breaking more records.

Will Mbappé be able to overtake Messi as the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup history?

All remains to be seen in this thrilling World Cup.