World Cup records still to be broken by Ballon d’Or legends

In the space of 26 hours a quartet of Ballon d’Or legends showed up at the World Cup this week, terrifying goalkeepers and confirming their immense pedigrees.

Eight-time Ballon d’Or nominee Kylian Mbappe started proceedings, firing a terrific brace against Senegal.

In doing so, the Real Madrid striker became France’s all-time record goalscorer, his 57th and 58th international strikes putting him ahead of Olivier Giroud.

Next up was Erling Haaland, participating in his first World Cup. It took the ‘Striking Viking’ just 29 minutes to open his account in the competition, adding another soon after for good measure.

A mere matter of hours later, in Kansas City, Lionel Messi emerged into the sunlight to make his 27th appearance at a World Cup. That in itself is a record and one that won’t be topped for some time given that those nearest to him have all retired.

Viewed by many to be the greatest player to ever grace the beautiful game – and with eight Ballon d’Or honours to back that claim up – the Argentine’s seasoned age was a talking point going into the tournament. Could he still produce magic?

A sensational hat-trick against Algeria later and we had our answer.

Lastly, Harry Kane ensured he wasn’t left out of the party, England’s ever-reliable hit-man scoring twice as the Three Lions bested Croatia.

Already, three of these four elite finishers have broken records this summer and it bodes well for the tournament’s success that its biggest attractions are all firing on every cylinder.

It suggests too that further records could be toppled along the way.

Kylian Mbappe – Chasing down the greats

A goal with either foot by the French star against the Lions of Teranga puts him on 14 World Cup goals, matching Gerd Muller’s impressive haul in the Seventies.

It leaves Les Bleus’ captain just three short of becoming the World Cup’s all-time top goalscorer – assuming of course that Messi doesn’t add to his tally this summer – and hitting that target is well within his scope. Last time out, at Qatar 2022, Mbappe secured the Golden Boot with eight goals, three of which were converted in the final.

His highly impressive ratio is worth noting here, too. Mbappe has needed only 15 games to get to 14, or 0.93 per match.

Should France go deep, the forward is also in with a chance of carving out another slice of history. No player has ever won the Golden Boot twice.

Erling Haaland – Gate-crashing the party  

Naturally, having only played 90 minutes of World Cup football, Haaland remains a long distance away from troubling any all-time records.

What intrigues though is that his double vs Iraq made him only the second Norwegian player to score two career World Cup goals. Should he convert against Senegal or France – or in the knock-out rounds to follow – he will move beyond Kjetil Rekdal and be in a league of his own.

Lionel Messi – The immortal

With an extraordinary 120 goals scored for La Albiceleste, Messi became his country’s all-time leading goalscorer a long time ago. His heightened tally is more than double that achieved by Gabriel Batistuta in second spot.

Now World Cup immortality awaits too, his hat-trick this week putting him level with Miroslav Klose on 16 tournament goals.

Austria are next to face his genius, then Jordan. The latter team have conceded 2+ goals in each of their last five outings.

Harry Kane – England’s finest export

Like Mbappe, Haaland and Messi, the Bayern ace is his nation’s all-time record goal-scorer. He still needs one more though to make that true also of England goals at World Cup finals.

His brace against Croatia placed Kane on 10 World Cup strikes, the same number as Gary Lineker, and perhaps it’s fitting that these lethal forwards each attained that number from 12 games apiece.   

In the US/Mexico/Canada however, Lineker will be doing punditry while Kane will be on the pitch. The record is there to be won for a prolific frontman who has a Gerd Muller Trophy among his many accolades.  

His retaken spot-kick against Croatia was his fifth successful penalty at a World Cup finals, a record in itself.