Olivier Giroud shares his reaction live on air as Kylian Mbappé breaks the France goal-scoring record.
Olivier Giroud shared his thoughts live on the BBC after Kylian Mbappé broke his record as France’s top scorer. Giroud, who helped France win the 2018 World Cup, is working as a BBC Sport pundit during the tournament while still playing for Lille in Ligue 1.
On Tuesday (June 16), Giroud started the night as France’s all-time top scorer with 57 goals in 137 games. But by the end of France’s 3-1 win over Senegal in New York/New Jersey, Mbappé had taken the lead after scoring twice to help his team win.
Mbappé scored the first goal in the 66th minute, tying Giroud’s record. Bradley Barcola then made it 2-0 before Senegal got one back with a late goal by Ibrahim Mbaye. But Mbappé wasn’t done—he fired a long-range shot past Edouard Mendy to score his 58th goal for France, making history for French football.
Mbappé also matched Ronaldo Nazário and Gerd Müller with 15 World Cup goals, just one behind the record-holder Miroslav Klose, who has 16.
Shortly after, Giroud spoke live on BBC Sport, looking very happy for Mbappé and congratulating him right away. “A much, much better second half,” he said. “Congrats, Kylian, you made it. I’m really happy for him. He played better with Olise and showed the team the way.”
Earlier, Giroud had also talked about Mbappé possibly beating his record, saying he might even get to 100 goals. He said, “It was expected. I’m happy it’s him. He’ll break every record—caps, goals. He can easily reach 100 goals and maybe even Klose’s World Cup goals record. He’s shown great performances in big games.”
Former England striker Wayne Rooney also praised Mbappé: “Mbappé is a superstar. Even if he had a quiet first half, he came back strong in the second and was incredible. I’m sure he’ll become the top World Cup goalscorer ever.”
Despite Mbappé’s amazing second half, Giroud also mentioned some teammates. “By moving Olise more central and closer to Mbappé, their connection improved. This lets Olise play freely higher up, while Dembélé can take on defenders out wide. So, coach Deschamps has lots of options.”
France will play Iraq on June 22 and finish their Group I games against Norway on June 26.