France skipper Kylian Mbappe has expressed his frustration after his side missed out on a bronze medal at the 2026 World Cup, suffering a 6-4 defeat to England in a highly entertaining third-place play-off encounter.
Les Bleus trailed 4-0 at the Hard Rock Stadium at the break as England blitzed their way at the interval.
A change of personnel in the second half saw the 2018 world champions respond with three goals in 18-second-half minutes, with Mbappe firing a brace in the process.
The two goals moved the 27-year-old into double figures at the 2026 World Cup, placing him on 10 goals, two goals above his closest rival, Lionel Messi, in the golden boot race.
Messi is set to feature in the final on Sunday when Argentina face Spain.
Despite surpassing Messi as the top scorer at the 2026 World Cup and moving past the Argentine on the all-time World Cup goal-scoring chart with 22 goals, Mbappe admitted that playing in the World Cup final means so much more than individual glory.
“To be honest, I would have preferred to not be top scorer and be in the World Cup final tomorrow,” he said.
The Real Madrid man is on course to reclaim the World Cup golden boot after he secured the award in Qatar four years ago.
Mbappe now becomes the first player to score 10 goals in a single World Cup in 56 years and the fourth player to score 10 or more goals at the World Cup.
