England beat France 6-4 in record 10-goal World Cup third-place match as Mbappé becomes all-time top scorer

First-half onslaught

England needed only three minutes to take the lead. Declan Rice intercepted a stray pass from Désiré Doué, sprinted forward and beat Mike Maignan with a low right-footed shot from 20 metres. Bukayo Saka thought he had doubled the lead in the 12th minute after racing down the right and finishing low, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Ezri Konsa made it 2-0 six minutes later, heading in a Rice corner. France had not conceded twice inside the opening 20 minutes since a 2-2 draw with Romania in October 2008, when Florentin Petre and Dorin Goian scored early. Marcus Rashford forced a save from Maignan in the 33rd minute, and Kylian Mbappé was denied by Dean Henderson at the other end. Saka then struck twice before the interval, finishing a counter-attack in the 37th minute after Maignan had blocked his initial effort, and adding a second in first-half stoppage time following a Rashford shot that was parried. England went into the break 4-0 up, leaving France facing their heaviest World Cup defeat.

Deschamps' changes ignite comeback

Didier Deschamps made four substitutions at half-time and the match turned. Kylian Mbappé pulled one back in the 48th minute, converting a Michael Olise pass. Bradley Barcola made it 4-2 in the 54th minute, set up by Mbappé. The France captain then scored again in the 66th minute, driving the ball low past Dean Henderson to bring the score to 4-3. The goal was Mbappé's 22nd in World Cup finals, moving him past Lionel Messi as the tournament's all-time top scorer. The record is guaranteed only until Sunday's final, when Messi could reclaim it if Argentina face Spain.

Saka completes hat-trick, Bellingham closes the show

England steadied themselves and won a penalty in the 87th minute, which Saka converted to complete his hat-trick and restore a two-goal cushion. Ousmane Dembélé scored in the sixth minute of added time to make it 5-4, but Jude Bellingham struck almost immediately from the restart to seal a 6-4 victory. England secured their first World Cup bronze medal, having lost the third-place matches in 1990 (to Italy) and 2018 (to Belgium). France finished fourth, avoiding what had seemed an inevitable historic rout at half-time.

A reluctant classic

The ten-goal spectacle set a new record for a World Cup third-place match, eclipsing the nine goals from France's 6-3 win over West Germany in 1958, a mark that had stood for 68 years. Before the game, Deschamps had acknowledged the ambivalence surrounding the fixture.

England doesn't want to play this match and neither do we.

Both managers rotated their squads, fielding players with fewer minutes earlier in the tournament. The result ended France's four-match unbeaten run in official meetings against England (two wins, two draws) since a 1982 World Cup loss, and gave Thomas Tuchel's side a measure of revenge for the 2022 quarter-final defeat.