Having gone a game without scoring, Kylian Mbappé found his golden touch once again to help France to a thumping win over Sweden.
Kylian Mbappé has now scored more World Cup knockout-stage goals than any other player after his brace helped France to a 3-0 win over Sweden.
Mbappé surged onto 10 goals in the knockouts, and 18 at the finals overall, while Bradley Barcola was also on target with an emphatic finish to set up a meeting with Paraguay in the last 16.
Sweden made a promising start, with Alexander Isak finding a pocket of space only to fire a tame shot straight at Mike Maignan and from there, it was all France.
Mbappé thought he had broken the deadlock 20 minutes in as he raced through the gap in Sweden’s defence to fire past Jacob Widell Zetterström, but the flag went up in a tight offside call.
The France captain was then left unmarked at the back post, but sent his first-time effort against the foot of the post, with Zetterström gratefully gathering after it rebounded back towards goal off Victor Lindelof.
Michael Olise almost scored the goal of the tournament shortly after. He met a looping clearance with an overhead kick just inside the box, but it hit the far post before Ousmane Dembélé curled wide on the rebound.
But Mbappé would get his goal on the stroke of half-time, as he was picked out by Dembélé following a short corner. The Real Madrid superstar left Viktor Gyökeres on the floor before bending a fierce drive into the right side of the net.
France got their second in the 53rd minute, with Olise slotting a throughball between Gustaf Lagerbielke‘s legs to set up Barcola for a thumping strike.
Olise continued to search for his first goal of the finals, seeing a long-range curler tipped wide before Zetterström smothered his low shot one-on-one following the hydration break.
While he could not get on the scoresheet, Olise did notch his fifth assist of the finals, threading through another perfectly weighted pass, this time for Mbappé, who lifted his shot over Zetterström to add further gloss to a resounding, statement win.
Sweden attempted a very late rally, with Gyökeres pouncing on a loose ball to fire a low attempt on goal, but Maignan got down to push it away, protecting his clean sheet.
Mbappe Keeps the Heat On Messi
This was Mbappé’s 18th World Cup appearance for France, with only Hugo Lloris (20) and Antoine Griezmann (19) making more, and he continues to push his way up the World Cup scoring charts.
He is now outright second on the all-time list with 18, leaving Miroslav Klose behind, but he remains one behind Lionel Messi (19).
He is also level with the Argentine great on six goals for this year’s tournament in a remarkable Golden Boot race.
Since Mbappé’s debut in the 2018 edition, no player has more World Cup goals (18) or goal involvements (22) than him, with Messi trailing in the 27-year-old’s shadow (14 goals, 19 goal contributions).
Mbappé’s 10 goals in nine knockout stage games at the World Cup, the most of any player, overtaking Leonidis and Ronaldo Nazario (both eight).
He could easily have had more. Mbappé had five of France’s 25 shots, contributing 0.63 to their 3.17 expected goals (xG) – only Olise (six) had more attempts.
Olise might not have got the goal his performance displayed, but his five assists are the outright most by a player at a single World Cup since Thomas Hassler for Germany in 1994.
France, who had Didier Deschamps back in the dugout following his time away from the tournament following the death of his mother, look like the team to beat as things stand, and they are now the first side to ever score three goals in five consecutive matches in the competition’s history.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the France vs Sweden stats from their 2026 FIFA World Cup round-of-32 meeting at New York New Jersey Stadium on 30 June.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
France vs Sweden: Post-Match Opta Facts
Kylian Mbappé has scored 18 goals in 18 FIFA World Cup appearances for France, the outright second-most in the history of the competition behind only Lionel Messi (19); he also holds the record for the most goals scored in the knockout stages of the tournament (10).
France’s Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé have combined for six goals at the FIFA World Cup (four assists from Dembélé to Mbappé, two from Mbappé to Dembélé), more than any other duo on record (since 1966) in the competition.
France’s Michael Olise is the first player to provide 5+ assists at a single FIFA World Cup tournament since Germany’s Thomas Häßler in 1994 (5) while the only player on record (since 1966) to provide more assists at a single edition was Pele for Brazil in 1970 (6)
France are one of only two teams, alongside the Netherlands, to have three players with two or more goals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with Kylian Mbappé (6), Ousmane Dembélé (4), and Bradley Barcola (2) all reaching that tally.
France have scored at least three goals in each of their last five FIFA World Cup matches, the longest such streak in the history of the competition.
France have won each of their last seven FIFA World Cup matches against European nations, the longest winning run by a team against such opposition in the competition’s history.
Didier Deschamps has secured his ninth FIFA World Cup knockout stage victory as France manager, the most of any coach in the history of the competition.
Kylian Mbappé has scored 2+ goals in seven different FIFA World Cup matches for France, three more than any other player.
France had 25 shots against Sweden, their highest total in a FIFA World Cup match since their 1998 last 16 tie against Paraguay (37).
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