Kylian Mbappe stole the show, bagging a brace as France defeats Poland 3-1 and Olivier Giroud became France’s record all-time top goalscorer.

The first chance for the defending champion came when Raphaël Varane headed a corner but his effort was off target.

Not long after, Aurelien Tchouaméni attempted a shot from 25 yards that was parried away by Wojciech Szczęsny in goal for Poland.

Eventual goal scorer, Olivier Giroud then missed an empty as he couldn’t make good contact with the ball when he slid at Ousmane Dembélé’s ground cross.

Then the biggest series of chance came in the 38th minute for Poland as a cross into the box fell kindly for Napoli’s Piotr Zieliński inside the penalty area but his shot was pushed away by Hugo Lloris and the subsequent rebound was blocked by Jules Kounde before another rebound was cleared off the line by Raphaël Varane.

Before the halftime break, Giroud was presented another opportunity when Kylian Mbappe set him up in the box. The number 9 slotted in a left-foot finish to break the deadlock and become the outright top scorer for the France national team with 52 goals.

As Poland surged forward for an equalizer, the ball was cleared away from the French box by Theo Hernandez to the feet of Olivier Giroud who had dropped down to the middle of the pitch. Giroud prompted a quick counter by passing to Dembele with the Barcelona forward drifting forward. Dembele found a free Kylian Mbappé at the right side of the attack and the poster boy did not miss the chance to make it 2-0.

Mbappé added his second to score his ninth overall World Cup goal, going past Pele and Ronaldo. The PSG forward received a pass from Marcus Thurman before curling the ball beyond Szczęsny into the net.

Poland got a consolation goal for their troubles in the last minute of the game when Upamecano handled the ball in the box.

Robert Lewandowski stepped up and missed the original spot-kick but the referee ordered a re-take after a number of French players had encroached in the area and Hugo Lloris had left the goal line before the ball was kicked. The Barcelona striker dispatched the penalty retake in the same manner as the first, this time scoring it.

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