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Kylian Mbappe wasted little time in getting started at this summer’s World Cup, with his opening-game brace against Senegal seeing him move to the top of France’s all-time goalscoring list.
His spectacular second, lashed in from range, meant that he moved clear of Olivier Giroud and onto 58 international goals, a tally he will no doubt look to add to in the coming weeks.
The strike also saw him move level with Gerd Muller on 14 World Cup goals, the first of which was scored against Peru in 2018, when the forward was just 19 years old and it was clear France had a special player on their hands.
Mbappe would score four times that summer, including a goal in the final, as France claimed their second World Cup title, with his then-strike partner Giroud admitting that the whole squad knew just how good a player the teenager was.
“When Kylian arrived with the national team, he was only 18,” Giroud tells FourFourTwo. “The whole squad understood from the start that we had a great player on our hands.
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“He had everything a top striker needs: pace, skill and huge maturity for one so young. I was really impressed by his personality, in particular. The way he spoke to the media, to his team-mates – he was always polite and confident.”
Giroud quickly formed an effective strike partnership with the former Monaco youngster, with the two players’ skillsets complementing each other perfectly.
“Playing alongside Kylian was always easy, even from the start, because he’s a very intelligent player,” Giroud continues. “He understood my game, what I offered as a target man, and brought pace and movement to complement that. We were supportive of one another – we always knew where the other would be on the pitch.”
Eight years ago, aged 19 and 21, Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele were both in the starting XI for France’s opening game of the 2018 World Cup.
“Kylian was still a teenager, but it was a no-brainer to include him, not only in the squad but in the team,” recalls Giroud, who was on the bench for that game, with Antoine Griezmann completing the front three.
After an unconvincing opening victory against Australia, Dembele rather than Mbappe made way, allowing for Giroud’s crucial introduction to the starting side from thereon. Dembele would play only two minutes during the knockout stage.
“Mbappe, meanwhile, scored his first World Cup goal against Peru, then shot to superstardom with a brace against Argentina in the last 16. “He had such a huge impact on the team that summer,” Giroud says. “We were all so proud.”
“Against Croatia in Moscow, the boy from Bondy became the youngest scorer in a World Cup final since Pele in 1958. “From his first tournament, Kylian’s talent was so clear,” smiles Giroud. “In the final with Croatia, he was decisive. You could see the massive potential.”