France’s Kylian Mbappe (10) celebrates his team victory at the top of the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Paraguay and France in Philadelphia, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
PHILADELPHIA — Kylian Mbappé of France scored his nineteenth profession World Cup goal, finding the web on a penalty kick within the Round of 16 against Paraguay on Saturday and moving inside certainly one of record holder Lionel Messi of Argentina.
Mbappé stutter-stepped on his option to his nineteenth goal in 19 World Cup appearances, beating Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill within the seventieth minute to interrupt a scoreless tie. France’s captain was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review.
“I’ve said from the primary day that he had the spirit. He gave all of the athletic efforts,” France coach Didier Deschamps said after Les Bleus won 1-0. “He’s an ideal top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the whole group.”
READ: World Cup: Kylian Mbappé scores again, France enters quarterfinals
It was the seventh goal of this tournament for Mbappé, matching Messi within the race for the Golden Boot for the World Cup’s top scorer. Mbappé won that award 4 years ago in Qatar, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the ultimate.
Mbappé is now the one player to attain no less than three goals within the knockout stage of three World Cups. On Saturday, he endured against perhaps probably the most physical opponent he’s faced on this tournament.
Tempers flared in the primary half when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved one another. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.
After Mbappé ignored Gill’s attempt at a postgame handshake, the goalkeeper threw a ball on the France star’s back.
READ: Mbappe ties Messi for World Cup lead, France beats Sweden 3-0
“We knew what sort of match it was going to be. We may get our hands dirty, we all know do it,” Mbappé said in French. “We all know play ugly football. Guess they were pondering we were going to point out up in tuxedos, but we were ready. Even at that sort of game, we were higher than them. That’s their form of football. There’s no right or improper option to play the sport. They tried to beat us that way, but we won.”
And the victory cleared the best way for Mbappé to proceed chasing Messi’s profession goals mark.
Messi scored his twentieth profession World Cup goal in Argentina’s 3-2 win over Cape Verde on Friday night. The 39-year-old great also has goals in a record eight consecutive World Cup games.
Norway’s Erling Haaland and England’s Harry Kane are next within the Golden Boot race with five goals each.
Your subscription couldn’t be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.
If there’s a tie within the Golden Boot standings when the tournament ends, FIFA will use assists as the primary tiebreaker and fewest minutes played because the second tiebreaker. Mbappé has a 2-0 lead over Messi in assists.