Kylian Mbappe added a World Cup Golden Boot to his trophy cabinet but a second winners’ medal was elusive.
He joined Sir Geoff Hurst as the only players to score a hat-trick in the World Cup final.
But, unfortunately for Mbappe, it wasn’t enough to get France over the line.
He beat Lionel Messi to the Golden Boot but his Paris-Saint Germain team mate got his hands on the biggest prize.
Here is how the race to be top scorer at the 2022 World Cup panned out.
Who won Golden Boot race at the World Cup?
Kylian Mbappe — 8 goals
Kylian Mbappe is a World Cup heavyweight.
The young Frenchman has quite the knack of playing his best football on the biggest stage.
He became the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when he almost single-handedly dragged France back into the contest (twice) against Argentina.
Unfortunately, this time, it wasn’t to be for the 23-year-old. He scored his penalty in the shootout but misses from a pair of his team mates meant the World Cup would end up in Argentine hands instead.
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Mbappe will be back, though. With 12 World Cup finals goals, the record of all-time top scorer — 16 goals set by Miroslav Klose — will be the next milestone in his sights.
Lionel Messi — 7 goals
Being pipped to the Golden Boot by one of his club team mates won’t bother Messi in the slightest.
The lack of gold on his silver boot is more than compensated by a first ever winners’ medal.
The famous trophy was the only piece of silverware that has eluded Messi during his career and now he has completed the most extraordinary set.
In the process of leading his nation to their third World Cup glory, he became the first player ever to score in the group stages, the last 16, the quarter-final, the semi-final and the final of a single tournament.
His two goals against France should have been enough to win the match in normal time and then extra-time but a win on penalties makes no difference.
Julian Alvarez — 4 goals
A bronze boot and a World Cup winners’ medal. Not bad for your first tournament.
Julian Alvarez only got his first goal in Argentina’s third group game, the 2-0 win against Poland. That was his first start of the World Cup and the Manchester City man didn’t look back since.
He then scored what proved to be the decisive goal in Argentina’s 2-1 round-of-16 victory over Australia, before adding two more during their 3-0 semi-final triumph against Croatia.
Alvarez didn’t score in the final but it didn’t matter as he still got his hands on a winners’ medal.
Olivier Giroud — 4 goals
There was no second winners’ medal for Olivier Giroud and he was edged out by Alvarez for the bronze boot.
He scored four goals in his first four games — the quarter-final winner against England the most notable — and went above Thierry Henry in France’s all-time goalscoring charts.
Goncalo Ramos — 3 goals
Eliminated
Bursting onto the scene would be an understatement when describing Goncalo Ramos’ first international start.
He was handed the almost-impossible job of deputising for Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal’s last-16 clash with Switzerland.
But, instead of struggling under the pressure, he thrived. Ramos managed to score the first hat-trick in the knockout stage of the World Cup since 1990.
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If that wasn’t enough, he even added an assist for Raphael Guerreiro in the 6-1 win.
Unfortunately, his tournament ended a game later as Portugal were beaten by Morocco.
Marcus Rashford — 3 goals
Eliminated
Despite starting just once for England at this World Cup, Marcus Rashford has emerged as an outsider for the Golden Boot.
In little more than an hour and a half of action, he has scored three goals: one against Iran and a brace against Wales.
The two goals against England’s closest neighbours were particularly brilliant with a free-kick and a solo goal leading the Three Lions to a 3-0 win.
Given there were pre-tournament doubts over whether or not he should be involved in the squad at all, he has shown just how valuable he can be to Gareth Southgate.
He had the chance to potentially extend England’s stay in Qatar with a late free-kick against France but his well-struck effort landed on the roof of the net.
Bukayo Saka — 3 goals
Eliminated
One of Rashford’s team mates has also managed three goals at this World Cup so far.
Bukayo Saka, who had only scored four England goals in 21 caps prior to the tournament, got England off to the perfect start against Iran.
He netted twice in the 6-2 win before adding the finishing touch to the last-16 win against Senegal.
His slim Golden Boot hopes were dashed as the Three Lions were beaten in the quarter-final by France.
Richarlison — 3 goals
Eliminated
When Richarlison pulls on the famous yellow shirt, he becomes one of international football’s most prolific strikers.
Not only has the Brazil frontman scored three goals, two of them were among the best goals at this World Cup.
His overhead kick to open the scoring against Serbia will take some beating as goal of the tournament while his goal against South Korea wasn’t bad either.
Brazil’s disappointing World Cup came to an end against Croatia in the quarter-final.
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Cody Gakpo — 3 goals
Eliminated
Cody Gakpo has shown exactly why he continues to be the subject of a big-money move to the Premier League.
He scored in each of the Netherlands’ Group A matches as they qualified for the last-16 as group winners. In doing so, he became the first Dutchman to score in his first three World Cup matches.
Unfortunately, Gakpo wasn’t able to add to his tally in the knockouts and his side were knocked out in the quarter-final by Argentina.
Alvaro Morata — 3 goals
Eliminated
Alvaro Morata continued his impressive goalscoring record at major tournaments in Qatar. Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep Spain in the World Cup as they were beaten, on penalties, by Morocco in the last-16.
With three goals and one assist, many La Roja supporters have asked why Morata only started one game.
He was introduced just after the hour mark in the last-16 defeat but couldn’t add to his three-goal tally.
Enner Valencia — 3 goals
Eliminated
Enner Valencia was one of the stars of the World Cup group stage but that was where his tournament came to an end.
While carrying an injury niggle throughout, he netted a brace against Qatar in the opening game and the equaliser in the draw against the Netherlands. He was unable to score in the final group game against Senegal as Ecuador went crashing out after such a strong start.
At 33 years old, another World Cup might be a bit of a stretch so he will likely finish his career with a record of six goals in six games at two tournaments. Not bad at all.
Players with two goals
Here are all the players that have scored two goals at the 2022 World Cup.
* Players from eliminated teams
- Bruno Fernandes*
- Harry Kane*
- Nicolas Fullkrug*
- Vincent Aboubakar*
- Mehdi Taremi*
- Neymar*
- Robert Lewandowski*
- Wout Weghorst*
- Rafael Leao*
- Kai Havertz*
- Giorgian de Arrascaeta*
- Ritsu Doan*
- Ferran Torres*
- Mohammed Kudus*
- Aleksandar Mitrovic*
- Salem Al-Dawsari*
- Cho Gue-sung*
Who are the previous winners of the World Cup Golden Boot?
The first World Cup where the top goalscorer received an award was the 1982 tournament in Spain.
Between 1982 and 2006, it was known as the Golden Shoe before being renamed to the Golden Boot for the 2010 World Cup.
Here are the players who scored the most goals at each World Cup.
- 1930: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) — 8 goals
- 1934: Oldrich Nejedly (Czechoslovakia) — 5 goals
- 1938: Leonidas (Brazil) — 7 goals
- 1950: Ademir (Brazil) — 8 goals
- 1954: Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) — 11 goals
- 1958: Just Fontaine (France) — 13 goals
- 1962: Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union), Garrincha (Brazil), Vava (Brazil), Drazan Jerkovic (Yugoslavia), Leonel Sanchez (Chile) — 4 goals
- 1966: Eusebio (Portugal) — 9 goals
- 1970: Gerd Muller (West Germany) — 10 goals
- 1974: Grzegorz Lato (Poland) — 7 goals
- 1978: Mario Kempes (Argentina) — 6 goals
- 1982: Paolo Rossi (Italy) — 6 goals
- 1986: Gary Lineker (England) – 6 goals
- 1990: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) — 6 goals
- 1994: Oleg Salenko (Russia), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) — 6 goals
- 1998: Davor Suker (Croatia) — 6 goals
- 2002: Ronaldo (Brazil) — 8 goals
- 2006: Miroslav Klose (Germany) — 5 goals
- 2010: Thomas Muller (Germany) — 5 goals
- 2014: James Rodriguez (Colombia) — 6 goals
- 2018: Harry Kane (England) — 6 goals
(Top photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
