Kylian Mbappe, captain of the French national team, stole the spotlight on the night of the 2-0 victory over Morocco in the 2026 World Cup quarter-finals.

Mbappe managed to score the first goal and assist the second, bringing his tally to 8 goals, tying with Lionel Messi at the top of the tournament's scoring chart.

According to Opta football statistics, Mbappe entered a very rare list in World Cup history, becoming only the fourth player in the last 60 years to both score and assist a goal while also missing a penalty in the same match.

Also read: Bounou: What Messi did against Egypt impressed me a lot.

The irony is that Messi had achieved the same feat just three days earlier during Argentina's round of 16 match against Egypt, which ended with a 3-2 win for La Albiceleste, after he scored a goal and assisted another despite missing a penalty.

Although Mbappe missed the penalty in the first half against Morocco, he was not affected by the missed opportunity and continued to lead the French attacks, before scoring the first goal and assisting the second to lead his country to the semi-finals.

This stat reflects the impact of the two stars in the current edition of the World Cup, as each managed to leave a decisive mark in a knockout match despite missing a certain chance from the penalty spot, a rare achievement that occurred twice in just three days.