World Cup knockout stage goalscorers: Mbappe, Messi, Kane

Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored one World Cup knockout stage goal – from the penalty spot – but where does his great rival Lionel Messi rank among the all-time top goalscorers on the biggest stage of all?

Messi recently became the all-time top goalscorer in the history of the World Cup, but he still has a few more goals to score in the knockouts if he’s to break that record – one that’s just been broken by one of his former team-mates.

Some iconic players – and some lesser-remembered names – are among those who are ahead of Messi when it comes to goals on the biggest stage in football.

Here are the top World Cup knockout stage goalscorers:

=1st. Kylian Mbappe – 11 goals in 10 games

Mbappe tied the record in just his second World Cup, averaging a goal a game in the knockout stages, with his unforgettable hat-trick in the final defeat to Argentina in Qatar last time out. At the time, half of his knockout tally was from finals.

And he’s picked up just where he left off in his first knockout appearance of the 2026 World Cup. After scoring four goals in the group stage, he kept himself in the hunt for the Golden Boot by notching on the stroke of half-time against Sweden.

He added another midway through the second half and netted a crucial penalty in the last 16 match with Paraguay.

Eleven goals in just 10 World Cup knockout appearances. An outrageous record.

=2nd. Leonidas – 8 goals in 5 games
=2nd. Ronaldo – 8 goals in 10 games

Mbappe’s eighth knockout goal, last time out in Qatar, saw him tie two Brazilian icons.

Leonidas never got his hands on the trophy, but he scored eight goals, mostly in the exclusively knockout 1938 tournament – including a hat-trick over Poland and two goals against Sweden.

Il Fenomeno followed in his footsteps 60 years later, scoring three goals at France ’98 and four goals – including two in the final – as the Selecao lifted the trophy four years later.

=4th. Just Fontaine – 7 goals in 3 games
=4th. Vava – 7 goals in 5 games
=4th. Oldrich Nejedly – 7 goals in 6 games
=4th. Pele – 7 goals in 6 games

Thirteen goals for Just Fontaine in the 1958 World Cup is one of those head-spinning records you assume will never be beaten. Although with this expanded tournament and the form some of the big-name superstars are in, never say never.

The Les Bleus legend scored over half his tally from that tournament from just three knockout stage games, tying the great Pele and the lesser-remembered Vava and Oldrich Nejedly for goals in win-or-go-home contests.

=8th. Eusebio – 6 goals in 3 games
=8th. Gyorgy Sarosi – 6 goals in 5 games
=8th. Gary Lineker – 6 goals in 6 games
=8th. Harry Kane – 6 goals in 8 games
=8th. Roberto Baggio – 6 goals in 9 games
=8th. Lionel Messi – 6 goals in 13 games

Ronaldo has now surely sealed his status as the greatest Portuguese footballer of all time.

But unless he can deliver, at the age of 41 in surely his last World Cup, his exploits on the biggest stage will always be overshadowed by Eusebio, who scored six goals in just three knockout appearances at the 1966 World Cup – including four in a classic 5-3 comeback victory over North Korea at Goodison Park.

Gyorgy Sarosi also scored six knockout goals for Hungary back in the 1930s, with Gary Lineker and Roberto Baggio tying them thanks to their exploits in the ’80s and ’90s. Harry Kane joins them on six goals and could yet add more.

=14th. Silvio Piola – 5 goals in 4 games
=14th. Gyula Zsengeller – 5 goals in 4 games
=14th. Helmut Rahn – 5 goals in 6 games
=14th. Thomas Muller – 5 goals in 7 games
=14th. Zinedine Zidane – 5 goals in 7 games
=14th. Wesley Sneijder – 5 goals in 8 games
=14th. Miroslav Klose – 5 goals in 14 games

Klose held the record for the most goals in the World Cup, but just five of his total of 16 were scored in the knockout stages.

Muller, Zidane and Sneijder are among the other modern-day icons who came up big when it mattered, joining historic names like Silvio Piola, Gyula Zsengeller and Helmut Rahn in the historic rankings.

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