The first 45 minutes were 45 minutes to forget for France, but Les Bleus officially started their 2026 FIFA World Cup in the second half against Senegal on Tuesday.

Kylian Mbappe, the reigning Golden Boot winner, opened his 2026 World Cup account when Michael Olise slotted a gorgeous through ball for Mbappe to knock into the net in the 66th minute. Mbappe ripped another goal from outside the box in stoppage time to put the cherry on top of France's 3-1 win.

With his second goal, the Real Madrid star and French captain added his name to all sorts of all-time lists.

According to ESPN Insights, Mbappe surpassed Olivier Giroud for most French national team goals all time (58). He also became the first player two have five two-goal matches on the World Cup stage, per The Athletic.

Perhaps most impressively, Mbappe (14) surpassed France's Just Fontaine (13) and Argentina's Lionel Messi (13) on the all-time men's World Cup scorers list. He is favored to leapfrog Germany's Miroslav Klose (16) and Brazil's Ronaldo (15) to top the list by tournament's end.

Messi matched Mbappe by night's end, however, as he scored for Argentina in the 17th minute of their opener against Algeria.

Much more goes into deciphering the superior World Cup performer than goals lists, but it's objectively impressive that Mbappe notched 14 goals in three World Cups, while Messi is currently in his sixth World Cup. It is firmly on the board that Mbappe has the better World Cup legacy when all said and done.

We could debate this all day long, but Mbappe and Messi are tied in the only column that matters: World Cup titles.

In 2018, Mbappe's debut World Cup, France claimed its first World Cup since 1998. But then, in the 2022 World Cup final, Messi and Argentina denied France, defeating them on penalties. Mbappe recorded a hat trick, and Messi had two goals.

This World Cup will go a long way in coloring how we view Mbappe in the all-time pantheon moving forward, and he knows it.

"At the end of the day, you need to feel this pressure to do something special," Mbappe told FOX's Jenny Taft. "It's my objective, it's my goal, when I wear this jersey to put my country at the top of the world."

Watch the full segment below.

"