World Cup data dive: Jude’s magnificent seven and Mbappe boosted for Golden Boot

Jude Bellingham crowned the madcap World Cup third-place play-off against France by breaking an England record.

Here, the Press Association looks at his achievement and the other noteworthy statistics from England’s 6-4 win over France.

Jude’s magnificent seven

Bellingham’s seventh goal of this World Cup is an England record for a single staging of the tournament.

Gary Lineker scored six in 1986, matched by Harry Kane in 2018 and again this summer, with Bellingham going one better thanks to his wonderful solo run in stoppage time.

The Real Madrid star scored in the group-stage wins over Croatia and Panama and then twice in both the last 16 against co-hosts Mexico and the quarter-final against Norway.

His exploits have caught the eye of England great Paul Gascoigne, who told the Sunday Times: “Jude Bellingham at 23 is the same age I was at Italia 90, but he seems a sensible young man. Some of his power and dribbling reminds me of how I played.”

Having also netted against Senegal four years ago and against Serbia and Slovakia at Euro 2024, Bellingham has eight World Cup goals and has matched Lineker’s haul of 10 at major tournaments, ranking second among Englishmen.

Kane leads the way with 21 goals, 14 of them at World Cups, while Bukayo Saka’s hat-trick doubled his World Cup tally and took him to seven in major tournaments – moving ahead of Sir Geoff Hurst and matching Wayne Rooney’s fifth-ranked England total.

Saka’s treble was only England’s fourth at a men’s World Cup, following Hurst in the 1966 final win over West Germany, Lineker against Poland in 1986 and Kane in 2018 against Panama.

Mbappe hits the front

After a first-half no-show, France belatedly played their part in Saturday night’s wild encounter as Kylian Mbappe boosted his Golden Boot chances with a brace.

The 27-year-old finishes with 10 goals this summer as he looks to pip Lionel Messi to the prize for the second World Cup in succession.

Argentina skipper Messi has eight ahead of Sunday’s final against Spain and an exact repeat of 2022 – with Argentina champions, Messi player of the tournament and Mbappe top scorer – remains on the cards.

Mbappe also edged ahead in the all-time World Cup top scorers list with 22 goals to Messi’s 21. He scored four times in 2018 and eight last time out, with his 22 goals coming in just 22 games.

Messi again has the chance to respond on Sunday, with the pair having surged past previous record holder Miroslav Klose this summer.

Kane shares fifth place on 14 with Gerd Muller.

Highest-scoring games

Only four men’s World Cup games have seen more than Saturday’s 10 goals, with the record of 12 set by Austria’s 7-5 win over Switzerland in 1954 featuring hat-tricks for Austria’s Theodor Wagner and Switzerland’s Sepp Hugi.

Hungary beat West Germany 8-3 in the same tournament, with Sandor Kocsis scoring four, and El Salvador 10-1 in 1982 with a Laszlo Kiss hat-trick.

The other game to feature 11 goals required extra time, Brazil beating Poland 6-5 in 1938 in a game which stood at 4-4 after 90 minutes. Ernest Wilimovski scored four goals in a losing cause.

France beat Paraguay 7-3 in 1958, with Saturday marking the first ever 6-4 scoreline at the men’s World Cup finals.