France pushed aside Poland in their Round of 16 fixture in what was a brilliant performance for the defending champions of the FIFA World Cup. After Olivier Giroud opened the scoring, Kylian Mbappe bagged a brace as the Frenchmen easily claimed their place in the quarterfinal. At the end of the game, Robert Lewandowski scored from the spot to get a consolation as the Polish striker might have called time on his World Cup career.
It was a special win for France, who also broke different records during their win over Poland. We take a look at the records that the Frenchmen have broken after their win over Poland.
Mbappe smashes Pele record
On the day his much older teammate Giroud made history, it was Mbappe who stole the show. He matched a 64-year-old World Cup record set by Brazilian great Pele after his brace in France's 3-1 victory over Poland in Sunday's last-16 tie. He now moves to nine goals in all World Cup fixtures, pulling him one clear of Cristiano Ronaldo, who will be in action with Portugal against Switzerland on Tuesday.
Both his two goals were excellent strikes delivered with class through a broken Polish defence and took him above Pele for the most World Cup goals scored by a men's player before turning 24 years old. He also has five goals in the knockout stages of the competition, and at 23 years and 349 days, makes him the youngest player to reach that number after Brazil legend Pele, who bagged as many during the Selecao's victorious Sweden 1958 campaign, aged 17 years and 249 days.
Giroud overtakes Thierry Henry
Having played 117 matches for France, the AC Milan striker scored his 52nd France goal to leave behind Thierry Henry's record of 51 goals. He had equalled the record with a brace during their 4-1 win over Australia in Le Bleus' World Cup opener, leaving him one shy of the benchmark.
During the Round of 16 clash against Poland, he latched onto Kylian Mbappe's pass to fire Les Bleus ahead. The former Chelsea and Arsenal striker would likely have not started for Didier Deschamps' side if it had not been for pre-tournament injuries to Karim Benzema and Christopher Nkunku.
"A lot of people told me it was coming, now I put it behind me and my obsession is to go as far as possible with the team. I was a little frustrated not to have been able to capitalise on one or two crosses that we made at the start of the match, so I really wanted to score this goal, just to stop talking about it," he said after the game.
Hugo Lloris equals long-standing record
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris matched France's national team record of 142 appearances in the same match that saw Giroud and Mbappe breaking records. The 35-year-old Lloris is now tied with Lilian Thuram, who was right back during France's 1998 world champion team.
Lloris lifted the trophy as captain for Les Bleus four years ago, having made his France debut in 2008. Thierry Henry has the third most appearances with 123. Lloris also matched Henry and Fabien Barthez for the most World Cup appearances for France with 17.
(With Agency inputs)
