Mbappe sets sights on Giroud record after surpassing Henry in France win

Kylian Mbappe set his sights on overhauling France’s all-time leading goalscorer Olivier Giroud after surpassing Thierry Henry in Tuesday’s hard-fought 2-1 win over Iceland.

France looked set for a humiliating defeat at the Parc des Princes when Andri Gudjohnsen pounced on Michael Olise’s mistake to give Iceland the lead.

But Mbappe levelled just before half-time, burying a penalty after Marcus Thuram was fouled by Mikael Anderson.

Bradley Barcola then completed the comeback for France, though they had to survive a late onslaught after Aurelien Tchouameni was sent off, with Gudjohnsen having a potential equaliser disallowed late on.

No player has scored more #WCQ goals than Cristiano Ronaldo pic.twitter.com/SvhiVE9scy

— UEFA EURO (@UEFAEURO) September 9, 2025

Mbappe’s spot-kick was his 52nd international goal, taking him one clear of Henry and drawing within five of Giroud.

“To overtake him is really great,” said Mbappe. “But there’s still one person to overtake, I think, so I’m not going to celebrate too much. There’s still work to be done.”

The result ensures that France are top of Group D in World Cup qualifying with maximum points from the opening two games, having also beaten Ukraine.

“Every victory is a step forward,” said Mbappe, who accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of 1.2, having registered three shots on target and made four key passes.

“We’ll have to take many steps to qualify. But each victory brings us a little closer to the World Cup. We’re happy to have beaten our direct competitors.

“There are quite a few lessons to be learned. The lessons aren’t always positive. But it allows us to work, to see what we’re missing, where we can improve.

“These are always good games to analyse. We’re still there, we managed to collect a lot of points.

“There are things we did well, and there are quite a few things to learn from this gathering.”