Kylian Mbappe Chasing Glory: The Rivalry with Messi

Kylian Mbappe is chasing history with the cold focus of a man who has already tasted it once and decided it wasn’t enough.

France arrived at this World Cup carrying the weight of expectation and the comfort of familiarity. Les Bleus are stacked with attacking talent, and they have played like a side that knows it. Mbappe has been the spearhead, flanked by Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola, a front line that runs at defenders with the arrogance of youth and the assurance of proven class.

The numbers tell part of the story. Mbappe is now his country’s all-time leading scorer, out on his own with 63 goals. Seven of those have come in just five games at this tournament, a ruthless return that has dragged him into yet another long-distance duel with Lionel Messi for the Golden Boot. Different continent, different World Cup, same two names circling the top of the scoring charts.

And, lurking behind the goals and the headlines, there is the possibility that football’s greatest modern rivalry gets one more chapter.

Another collision course with Messi

The bracket has teased it from the start. France and Argentina, European and South American giants, are moving through opposite sides of the draw, edging closer to a potential final on the outskirts of New York. The idea refuses to go away: Mbappe and Messi, former Paris Saint-Germain team-mates, face to face again with the world watching.

Mbappe would embrace it. He wants to become a two-time World Cup winner. Messi stands in the way of that ambition and, just as importantly, holds the status Mbappe craves: the man who climbed football’s highest mountain twice. Denying an all-time great that symmetry would be its own form of revenge.

France have not cruised, but they have controlled. Their route has included an emotionally charged last-16 tie against Paraguay, settled by a single Mbappe penalty. It was tense, edgy, the sort of night where one mistake can shred a campaign. Mbappe stepped up, as he so often does, and drew a hard game into his orbit.

Argentina’s path has been far wilder. They survived a major scare against Egypt in their own last-16 epic, somehow staggering out of a five-goal thriller with their hopes intact. While France have looked measured, Argentina have looked vulnerable and explosive in equal measure, a team that can terrify and terrify itself in the same 90 minutes.

Both still have serious work to do before anyone can talk about a rematch with a straight face. Tougher opponents lie ahead, heavier legs, sharper stakes. Yet the idea persists that Mbappe is chasing more than a trophy. He is chasing Messi’s crown.

“Revenge comes with history”

Louis Saha knows what a united, driven France looks like. He was part of the 2006 group that rallied behind Zinedine Zidane and Patrick Vieira and came within touching distance of the title. Watching this side, he sees something familiar.

Asked whether Mbappe has revenge in mind, with Messi at the heart of it, Saha did not hesitate. Speaking to GOAL, he said: “Definitely. The way I see it, there is a kind of solidarity that I haven't seen in this French team for quite a while.

“I remember it when I was with the team in 2006, with [Zinedine] Zidane and [Patrick] Vieira, all those players, they were at the end of this road. So they had that mindset of, ‘OK, leave everything on the pitch’. And those guys are doing it. They are 25, 27 and they have that sense of creating history, they're playing well, they're having fun.”

That blend of seriousness and joy has defined this French side. They press as a unit, they break with venom, and they carry themselves like a team aware they are writing something that will be read for years. Saha sees echoes of another project he knows well.

“It's an inspiration and it's a kind of, this is my feeling, the same spirit that PSG has got in the last two years. They are very solid, but at the same time, they are entertaining. They're playing fast football. They have this confidence in midfield where they maintain the tempo. I am very impressed.

“I am very impressed and Kylian Mbappe definitely represents that. So this revenge comes with history and there are a few players who have been there, done really well in 2018, done really well in 2022, but missed this last step. It's unbelievable when you look at this trajectory and journey from the Didier Deschamps team, it's unbelievable.”

That “last step” hangs over everything. France have reached finals, lifted trophies, and still carry the sting of those nights when they fell just short. For Mbappe and his generation, this tournament is not only about defending a reputation. It is about closing a circle.

He is scoring, leading, and dragging France deeper into a competition that feels tailor-made for his talent and temperament. Somewhere on the other side of the draw, Messi is doing what Messi always does: bending games, bending narratives, refusing to fade quietly.

The question is no longer whether Mbappe belongs in that conversation. It is whether this World Cup becomes the moment he rips the story away from Messi for good.