France’s striker Kylian Mbappe is not thinking about World Cup Golden Boot race with Lionel Messi. After two matches in the FIFA World Cup, Messi has scored five goals whereas Mbappe has netted four goals in as many games.
The Argentine captain scored a hat-trick against Algeria in the team’s opener and a brace against Austria on Monday. Messi is now the highest goal-scorer in the World Cup history with 18 goals to his name. The striker went past Miroslav Klose’s record of 16 goals after his brace.
On the other hand, Mbappe scored a brace against Senegal in Les Bleus’ opening game of the tournament whereas he scored two more goals in the second game against Iraq on Monday. Mbappe has now netted 16 goals in World Cup, the second highest along with Klose.
“It’s not something I’m thinking about at the moment,” Mbappé said at a news conference. “I think it’s so important these days to have a team environment where we can find our bearings. It means we can be confident in our strengths when it really counts.
“I’ve always scored goals in the World Cup, so it’s not something I’m thinking about or that I’m worried about.
“But as I said, the priority for us is to play to our strengths as a team, because we know that the further we go in the competition, the tougher the challenges will be. And to win a World Cup, you’re going to have to beat everyone. So it’s going to be very difficult.”
Mbappé won the Golden Boot in 2022 when he scored eight goals in seven games, including a hat trick in the final but it was Messi who went on to win his maiden World Cup title.
The French striker said he doesn’t want to keep looking at what Messi is doing as he would always be scoring goals.
“I said it yesterday: Léo always scores,” Mbappé continued. “He’s always scored and he’s scoring. He’ll always score. If I want to look at what Léo’s doing, I’ll have to do even more.
“So no, no, I don’t look at what he’s doing at all. I’m focused on helping my team. I’m sure I’m part of my team. I score goals and when you score goals, of course, you get closer to that sort of level.
“But as I said, we’ve got a long road ahead of us that’s going to be tough, and we’re going to do everything we can to come out on top at the end of this perilous journey.”
France will next take on Norway on Friday.
