France star Kylian Mbappe broke another World Cup record after his Tuesday brace against Sweden in a Round of 32 encounter.
The Real Madrid forward has now scored more World Cup knockout-stage goals than any other player. He has now surged to 10 goals in the knockouts and 18 in the finals overall. Bradley Barcola scored the other goal for Les Bleus, who will now face Paraguay in the last 16.
Although Sweden sparked the first notable attack when Alexander Isak found a pocket of space, only to fire a tame shot straight at Mike Maignan.
The former world champion thought he had broken the deadlock 20 minutes in as he raced through the gap in Sweden’s defense to fire past Jacob Widell Zetterström, but a raised offside flag overruled all the effort.
More chances for France came when Mbappe, unmarked at the back post, sent his first-time effort against the foot of the post; Michael Olise almost scored the goal of the tournament shortly after. He met a looping clearance with an overhead kick just inside the box, but it hit the far post before Ousmane Dembélé curled wide on the rebound.
Mbappe scores
But Mbappe scored on the stroke of half-time, as he was picked out by Dembele following a short corner. The European giants added a second in the 53rd minute when Olise slotted a throughball between Gustaf Lagerbielke‘s legs to set up Barcola, who found the back of the net.
Olise registered his fifth assist of the finals after threading another precise pass for Mbappe, who lifted his shot over Zetterstrom to all but seal the win for France.
Mbappe closes in on Messi
The former Monaco and PSG star is now outright second on the all-time list with 18, leaving Miroslav Klose behind, but he remains one behind Lionel Messi (19). Mbappe also became the top European goalscorer in the World Cup.
