Mbappé misses Giroud record again in France's 3-1 win over Northern Ireland

Kylian Mbappé failed to find the net in France’s second warm-up match on Monday evening in Lille, despite the Blues’ 3-1 victory over Northern Ireland. The French captain remains stuck on 56 goals in 98 caps, just one goal short of Olivier Giroud’s all-time record of 57 goals in 136 appearances.

Despite being fielded for the entire match by Didier Deschamps — unlike Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué, who were substituted at half-time, or Michael Olise, replaced ten minutes from the end — Mbappé had multiple attempts without reward. Six shots, all from inside the box, none on target. A goal he scored in the first half from a Doué cross was ruled out for offside (21st minute). In the second half, he failed to direct a Théo Hernandez cross on target (56th), found himself offside (59th), then missed a service from Olise (74th). Cherki, Akliouche and Barcola failed to put him in an ideal position during a one-sided final quarter.

It was ultimately Rayan Cherki who shone at Stade Pierre-Mauroy. The Lyon player opened the scoring before the break by converting a blocked Dembélé shot (43rd), then doubled the lead with a powerful strike after the restart (49th) before scoring a superb curled shot from his right wing (75th). A hat-trick that confirms his status as backup number ten in Deschamps’ 4-2-3-1, a position also occupied by Dembélé in the first half.

This second consecutive blank — Mbappé was also silent in France’s 2-1 defeat to Ivory Coast last Thursday in Nantes — postpones the historic milestone once again. The Real Madrid player will have to wait for the World Cup to attempt to surpass Giroud. France begin their campaign against Senegal in a week in New York, before facing Iraq and then Norway with Erling Haaland.