Giroud retired from international football in 2024 after making 137 appearances and a record 57 goals for Les Bleus. Mbappe currently sits in second position, having scored 52 goals in 92 games. The Frenchman, who has been in breathtaking form at the start of the season, will be aiming to eclipse Giroud in France‘s next two games – two relatively easy fixtures against Azerbaijan on Friday and Iceland next Monday.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the France captain said: “I’m not breaking any taboos when I say I can score goals against anyone. Every match has its own reality. [Azerbaijan] is a team that held Ukraine to a draw, where we didn’t have it easy. The stakes are higher than just scoring goals, even if we’re not going to deprive ourselves of that.
“I think I’ll beat [Giroud], but when, I don’t know. Maybe tomorrow, who knows? Maybe later. It’s something that will come naturally and I’ll move on from there.”
A record-breaking individual season was overshadowed by Real Madrid‘s failure to secure major silverware. The Frenchman often struggled, especially during the first half of the 2024-25 season, before finding his feet and finishing the season with the Pichichi and European Golden Shoe awards.
This season, though, Mbappe has been in transcendental form, scoring 14 goals in 10 games for Los Blancos and finally giving the impression that the version of Mbappe Madrid thought they signed in the summer of 2024 has arrived.
In Madrid’s most recent outing, a 3-1 win over Villarreal last weekend, Mbappe came off in the 82nd minute, just moments after he scored a goal. After the game, head coach Xabi Alonso confirmed that the 26-year-old had only suffered a minor ankle sprain.
Regardless, he was called up by France boss Didier Deschamps in hopes that he would recover from his knock in time for Friday’s clash against Azerbaijan. The former Paris Saint-Germain player missed team training this week, but Mbappe confirmed he would participate in training with the rest of his squad on Thursday.
“I want to play, the coach wants me to play, I don’t think there will be any problems,” Mbappe said. “I feel good, we’re talking to the coach. I’m going to train today, it’s the last test but I’m not particularly worried.”
