Kylian Mbappé has 14 World Cup goals—two behind Miroslav Klose's all-time record and one behind Lionel Messi's current 15 goals, which Messi scored after a hat-trick against Algeria. Mbappé netted twice in France's opening 4-0 victory over Senegal and said he relishes the Golden Boot competition: "I knew Messi would go and score goals, he always does. He is ahead of me but I will keep scoring to help our squad go as far as possible."
The PSG star will earn his 100th cap for France on Monday versus Iraq—a rare milestone at age 27. "To reach 100 caps, that's historic, to do it at a World Cup all the more so," Mbappé said. He named Messi as the standout talent in the tournament: "Lionel is the best of the best with Cristiano Ronaldo."
France must beat Iraq to mathematically confirm Group C qualification. Mbappé stated: "The thing that is clear in my mind is that we need to win in order to qualify." Despite his pursuit of scoring records, he subordinated personal ambitions: "When you score goals it helps towards breaking records, but I want to win the World Cup."
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