While they won’t go home with the accolades they desire, Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappe have written their names in the World Cup history books.
The French superstars broke the single-tournament assists record and the all-time goals record in the same order as they took on England in the third-place match on Saturday.
The record score came in the 66th minute when Olise played a smart one-two with Mbappe to score France’s third goal of the game.
It was Olise’s seventh assist in the tournament, breaking Pele’s long-standing record set in 1970. Meanwhile, it was Mbappe’s 22nd goal in three World Cups, breaking the record set by Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the round of 16 against Egypt.
Mbappe’s 10 goals in the tournament are also one for the history books, as he becomes the first player in 56 years to reach the double-figure mark, and only the fourth player after Gerd Müller (1970), Juste Fontaine (1958) and Sandor Kocsis (1954).
The goal also marked their second such contact of the day, with the duo kickstarting France’s comeback in the 48th minute with the first goal for a side looking to come back from 4-0 down at the break.
A total of five of Olisa’s assists in this tournament came from Mbappe.
France won 4-3 after Mbappe’s second goal. Les Bleus missed out on the chance to play in a third consecutive World Cup final, losing to Spain in the semi-finals.
Mbappe scored eight goals to win the Golden Boot four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Messi and Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final.
Mbappe started Saturday’s match for third place, which, aside from potentially winning him a second Golden Boot award, may provide little more than a moral victory. England stars Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham were not included in their team’s starting line-up and did not start the second half.
— With files from The Associated Press.