Footbll daily | Football’s greatest showman shows Mbappé and Haaland who’s boss

Here comes the Messi-ah The GWC has barely had time to unpack its suitcase and already the goals are flying in like overenthusiastic airline baggage. Stadiums are full, scoreboards are busy and, most importantly, football’s three marquee attractions decided that now would be a good time to remind everyone why they dominate highlight reels, sponsorship campaigns and social media algorithms. First up, Kylian Mbappé. France’s resident cheat code arrived in New Jersey with a mission and left with a place in the history books. Senegal did a respectable job of standing in his way until Mbappé remembered who he actually is. A low finish broke the deadlock before a thunderous long-range effort in stoppage time effectively put a bow on proceedings and a crown on his head. A 3-1 win for France , 58 international goals for Mbappé and a new national scoring record. We would apologise to the previous record holder, Olivier Giroud, but he did not seem that fussed. “Congratulations Kylian,” Giroud tooted on BBC One, where he is working as a not-so-great pundit. “I’m happy for him. It makes sense, it was expected. He will beat every single record – the number of caps and goals.” Mbappé’s goals for France have come in just 99 appearances and his double against Senegal moved him to 14 World Cup goals, leaving Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 16 looking less like a countdown. “I think he can easily reach 100 goals and maybe [beat] Miroslav Klose’s World Cup record,” predicted Giroud. …