India, July 10 -- The penalty had already escaped him against Morocco, but the goal did not. Kylian Mbappe eventually found the net with a curling finish, carrying France into another World Cup semi-final and taking his tournament record to a scarcely believable 20 goals in 20 appearances.

That symmetry feels almost too perfect: one goal for every game played on football's greatest stage. Ronaldo Nazario finished with 15 in 19 matches; Miroslav Klose scored 16 in 24. Just Fontaine and Sandor Kocsis registered more explosive ratios, but across only one tournament. Mbappe has sustained his rate over three editions, scoring four times in 2018 and eight in both 2022 and 2026.

The numbers now justify an outrageous question: is Mbappe the gre...