Lionel Messi leads the Golden Boot race at the FIFA World Cup 2026 after being briefly pegged back by Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.Â
Mbappe scored the only goal of a testy game between France and Paraguay to send Les Bleus through to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
That took the Real Madrid striker up to even goals in five games, level with Messi before Argentina’s round of 16 clash with Egypt, and increased his overall tally in the competition to 19 goals.
Haaland is also on seven goals after grabbing a brace in an historic win over Brazil for Norway. The Manchester City star powered home a header with 12 minutes to go before driving in a second goal in the last minute of normal time.
Messi saves Argentina! 🇦🇷
And what a goal to make things equal in Atlanta pic.twitter.com/x6EmMoiaF7
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 7, 2026
But Messi pushed himself back in front with a dramatic equaliser on Tuesday as Argentina came from two goals down to beat Egypt in Atlanta. The Inter Miami attacker has scored in every game this tournament and his last nine World Cup games consecutively. He is now just five goals off the single tournament record set by Just Fontaine in 1958 when he scored 13 goals in just six matches
Harry Kane is just two goals off top spot after converting from the penalty spot as ten-man England defeated Mexico 3-2 in a frenzied encounter at the Azteca. The Bayern Munich centre-forward extended his World Cup record of successful penalty kicks (excluding shootouts) to six.
World Cup 2026 Golden Boot Race:
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 8
=2. Kylian Mbappe (France) – 7
=2. Erling Haaland (Norway) – 7
4. Harry Kane (England) – 6
5. Ousmane Dembele (France), Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain), Jude Bellingham (England), Ismaila Sarr (Senegal), Julian Quinones (Mexico), Vinicius Junior (Brazil) – all on 4
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