French team's attacking core, Mbappe, has already scored 6 goals in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with astonishing performance and continuously breaking records. In the RMC program "After Foot", Walid Acherchour believes he has reached the heights of Zidane and Platini.

Since the start of this FIFA World Cup, he has not scored once or twice, but has completed three braces. In just 4 matches, Mbappe has become the attacking core of the French team. The French team started strong, successfully advanced to the Round of 16, and will face Paraguay on Saturday at 11 PM Beijing time (CEST).

Before Didier Deschamps leads the team to chase the third star, Opta predicts that France's chances of winning the championship now exceed 30%. Walid Acherchour has been completely captivated and even amazed by the performance of the French captain.

Reaching the heights of Platini and Zidane

"Besides nostalgia, there is no reason today to prevent us from placing Mbappe at the same height in French football history as Platini and Zidane," he said on RMC's "After Foot" on Wednesday. "His efficiency, statistics, presence, influence, and image in the past three FIFA World Cups are, for me, enough to put him on par with these two."

The data also speaks for itself. Since his first FIFA World Cup appearance in 2018, the 27-year-old forward has scored 18 goals in 19 World Cup matches, just 1 goal less than the record currently held by Messi. After France's 2-0 victory over Sweden, he also became the top scorer in World Cup knockout stage history with 10 goals. That was also his 7th time to score a brace in a single World Cup match, including a hat-trick against Argentina in the 2022 final, which is also a record.

"Recognizing what Mbappe means to the French team"

"Sometimes, stop joking around. Everyone must recognize what Mbappe means to the French team and to the FIFA World Cup," said Walid Acherchour. "And this is not over; the next matches might be even more brilliant. But I think his performance in this tournament in 2018, 2022, and the already started 2026, has already put him alongside these people (Zidane and Platini) in terms of sporting achievements."

He continued: "As for the emotional factor, and the impact he brings on and off the field, that's another matter. But if you only look at the cold hard facts, you should stop hesitating. In my opinion, he has already reached the heights of these people, and is very likely to continue to break this ceiling in the coming weeks, or in the next FIFA World Cup. For France's opponents, his performance is simply a nightmare."

Mbappe won the Best Young Player award at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In that tournament, he won the championship with the team at 19 years old and scored 4 goals, including a goal in the final. In 2022, he won the Golden Boot with 8 goals. This 2026 FIFA World Cup also started strong, with the French captain already scoring 6 goals, equaling Messi; he also broke the French team's goal-scoring record in the first match against Senegal, and his chemistry with his teammates is also getting better and better.

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