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Not only is Lionel Messi out to claim the second World Cup of his career when Argentina play Spain in Sunday’s final, but he could also win his first Golden Boot in the competition.
The Golden Boot, of course, is given to the player who scores the highest number of goals during an individual World Cup.
Though individual awards clearly do not mean quite as much as team trophies, Messi has never won the Golden Boot at a World Cup.
Indeed, Kylian Mbappe outscored Messi at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and is on course to do so again this summer.
Messi needs two goals and one assist or three goals to overtake Mbappe
France’s World Cup might have ended in disappointment after they lost 6-4 to England in the third-fourth place play-off in Miami, but it was a good night for Mbappe.
The forward scored a brace (two goals in the same game) to reach 10 at this year’s tournament.
Messi (8), then, needs to score three goals to ensure he wins the award, unless he were to score two and provide an assist in Sunday’s final for Argentina against Spain.
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If they were to be tied on goals, the Golden Boot would go to the player with the most assists. As it stands, both players have four assists as per FIFA’s official Golden Boot standings.
Should they record the same number of assists, it would be given to the player who has played the fewest number of minutes.
Mbappe ended on 769 minutes across the tournament, while Messi has amassed 712.
Given it is almost impossible to imagine Argentina taking their talisman off in the final unless there is an injury, Messi will almost certainly finish the World Cup having played more minutes than Mbappe.
How many World Cup goals does Mbappe have?
Following the game against England, Mbappe took his all-time World Cup tally to 22.
That is the most in history and the Real Madrid forward has only played at three editions. At the age of 27, he has time on his side too.
Messi is the closest active player to Mbappe, having scored 21 times across six tournaments.
Read more:
‘Shameful’ – Adrien Rabiot turns on his France teammates after England loss
World Cup fans come up with new bronze match rule after Kylian Mbappe brace
Kylian Mbappe claims France have ‘failed’ at World Cup as Zinedine Zidane awaits
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