Kylian Mbappé's Brace Vs. Poland Gives Him Firm Control of Golden Boot Race

Kylian Mbappé is putting on an offensive clinic in Qatar. 

The 23-year-old French star delivered a 1-2 punch on Sunday, scoring two late goals against Poland. He now leads all goal scorers in Qatar with five, two more than the rest of the pack in the hunt for the Golden Boot.

Mbappé spent most of Sunday’s match camped out around the Polish defensive line. That strategy paid off in the 74th minute starting when Antoine Griezmann cleared the ball to Olivier Giroud in the midfield. 

Giroud saw the opportunity to catch the Polish defenders flat-footed and took off, dishing the ball to Ousmane Dembélé on the right side. Dembélé crossed the ball back to Mbappé, who took a second to collect himself before drilling the ball perfectly into the top of the net, over the outstretched arms of Wojciech Szczęsny.

Less than 20 minutes later, at the start of stoppage time, he struck again in similar fashion. After Marcus Thuram found him inside the box, Mbappé took a quick touch and volleyed the ball to the back corner past Szczęsny.

Mbappé now has nine World Cup goals in his international career – four of which came in 2018 at the age of 19. Sunday’s performance put Mbappé past Pele’s record of seven World Cup goals before their 24th birthdays. Mbappé turns 24 on Dec. 20, two days after the World Cup Final.