Comparing Kylian Mbappe’s international record to Cristiano Ronaldo’s at the same stage

Cristiano Ronaldo ‘s record as the top goalscorer in the history of international football will take some beating, but Kylian Mbappe might just back himself to one day surpass his idol.

Mbappe is on the cusp of overtaking Olivier Giroud to become the French national team’s all-time top goalscorer, having recently moved beyond Thierry Henry in Les Bleus’ historic charts.

Amazingly, the Real Madrid superstar has done this by the age of just 27. He could conceivably keep playing for the French national team for another decade, while featuring in another three World Cups does not seem unrealistic.

When he was just 19 years of age, he won the World Cup – and scored in France’s 4-2 victory over Croatia in the final. Cristiano Ronaldo has been a full international for over two decades and is gearing up for his sixth World Cup , but it remains the one major achievement that evades him.

Famously, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has never scored a World Cup knockout stage goal, whereas Mbappe has four goals in finals alone, including a hat-trick in France’s penalty shootout to Lionel Messi’s Argentina out in Qatar.

But how does Mbappe’s record for France compare to Ronaldo’s for Portugal when they were at the same stages of their respective international careers?

The stats might surprise you. While Ronaldo had already won a Ballon d’Or and the Champions League – the two major prizes that Mbappe is yet to get his hands on – and was turning out for Real Madrid as their all-time record signing, his numbers in international football were dwarfed by Mbappe’s.

Mbappe has scored over 20 more goals and has notched more than double the assists that Ronaldo had after the same number of international appearances.

We’ve broken down the stats in full:

After 95 appearances:

Goals: 35 Assists: 19

Penalties scored (taken): 3 (5) Free-kicks: 5 ⭐ Hat-tricks: 0

Minutes per goal: 206 Minutes per non-penalty goal: 225 Minutes per goal or assist: 133

Note: Ronaldo’s international career tracks pretty closely with Mbappe’s in terms of their number of appearances at a similar age.

Nine years and one day after making his international debut, Ronaldo made a total of 96 international appearances. He scored in a friendly victory over Panama in August 2012, adding to the above tally.

At the exact same age that Mbappe is now (27 years and three months), Ronaldo had 88 appearances for the Portugal national team, with 32 goals and 18 assists. The above includes Ronaldo’s appearances at Euro 2012, when he was just a few months older.