Olivier Giroud became France’s all-time men’s record goalscorer as his opener and Kylian Mbappe’s second-half double gave the World Cup holders a 3-1 win over Poland to move them into the quarter-finals.
Giroud scored his 52nd France goal to surpass Thierry Henry’s record with a neat first-half finish (44) to help fire Les Bleus to a last-16 victory in Doha and set up a quarter-final against either England or Senegal.
Mbappe then doubled France’s lead in the 74th minute before arrowing in a superb second in stoppage time to make it five goals in Qatar – two more than any other player at the tournament.
Robert Lewandowski scored a 99th-minute re-taken penalty to add a late consolation for Poland to deny Hugo Lloris a clean sheet on his record-equalling 142nd appearance for France
France dominated the opening stages at the Al Thumama Stadium and Giroud should have given them a 29th-minute lead as he slid wide at the back post from Ousmane Dembele’s cross
Poland, who were in the knockout stages for the first time since 1986, came close to a shock opener as Lloris denied Piotr Zielinski before Jakub Kaminski’s rebound was cleared off the line by Raphael Varane.
France took the lead in the 44th minute as Mbappe slid in Giroud, who took one touch before finishing left-footed past Wojciech Szczesny for his third goal of the tournament as he became France record men’s goalscorer.
Mbappe then gave France breathing space midway through the second half as he fired past Szczesny to make it 2-0 before adding a sublime third in the top corner to deny Poland a first World Cup quarter-final appearance since 1982.
They were the 23-year-old’s fourth and fifth goals in Qatar as Mbappe became the first player to score nine World Cup goals before his 24th birthday, having netted as many as Argentina’s 35-year-old Lionel Messi.
A handball by France defender Dayot Upamecano allowed Lewandowski to score his second World Cup goal from the spot with the last kick of the game.
The Barcelona striker’s first penalty was saved by Lloris but the French captain did not have his feet on the line as Lewandowski scored at the second attempt.
