Kylian Mbappé, the star of the French national team, rose to the top of the scorers' list in the current edition of the FIFA World Cup, the 2026 edition, after scoring two goals in the third-place match.
The exciting match full of goals between France and England to determine the third place in the World Cup has just ended, as Thomas Tuchel's squad succeeded in winning the bronze medal after a 6-4 victory.
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Despite France's loss, Kylian Mbappé benefited from that match as he scored two goals, raising his tally to 10 goals at the top of the scorers' list for that edition of the World Cup.
Lionel Messi is in second place on that list with 8 goals, and he will play in today's World Cup final with Argentina against Spain.
The question now is, has Kylian Mbappé secured the Golden Boot award for the World Cup? The answer is no, as Lionel Messi has 3 scenarios to snatch it, as follows:
1- Scoring a hat-trick:
If Lionel Messi succeeds in scoring a hat-trick in the Argentina vs Spain match, his scoring tally will rise to 11 goals, surpassing Kylian Mbappé in the scorers' list, and thus he will win the Golden Boot.
2- Scoring two goals and assisting one:
If Lionel Messi succeeds in scoring two goals in today's match against Spain, his scoring tally will rise to 10 goals, tying with Kylian Mbappé.
In that case, the number of assists will be resorted to, to be counted within the framework of that award along with the goals.
And if Messi assists a goal against Spain, his assists tally will rise to 5, ahead of Mbappé who has 4 assists.
3- Scoring two goals and being substituted early:
If Lionel Messi scores two goals in today's match, his tally will rise to 10 goals, tying with Mbappé, in terms of goals and assists (4 each).
In that case, the player who played fewer minutes will be considered, and we find that Mbappé played 769 according to FIFA's website, while Messi has played 712 minutes so far, and therefore the latter needs not to exceed 57 minutes of play in today's match to have an advantage over the Frenchman, although it is difficult to substitute him early in that manner.
