France 3-0 Sweden: Mbappe breaks another World Cup record as Deschamps' men dazzle

Kylian Mbappe has now scored more World Cup knockout-stage goals than any other player after his brace helped France to a 3-0 win over Sweden.

Mbappe surged onto 10 goals in the knockouts, and 18 at the finals overall, while Bradley Barcola was also on target with an emphatic finish to set up a meeting with Paraguay in the last 16.

Sweden made a promising start, with Alexander Isak finding a pocket of space only to fire a tame shot straight at Mike Maignan and from there, it was all France.

Mbappe thought he had broken the deadlock 20 minutes in as he raced through the gap in Sweden's defence to fire past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, but the flag went up in a tight offside call.

The France captain was then left unmarked at the back post, but sent his first-time effort against the foot of the post, with Zetterstrom gratefully gathering after it rebounded back towards goal off Victor Lindelof.

Michael Olise almost scored the goal of the tournament shortly after. He met a looping clearance with an overhead kick just inside the box, but it hit the far post before Ousmane Dembele curled wide on the rebound.

But Mbappe would get his goal on the stroke of half-time, as he was picked out by Dembele following a short corner. The Real Madrid superstar left Viktor Gyokeres on the floor before bending a fierce drive into the right side of the net.

France got their second in the 53rd minute, with Olise slotting a throughball between Gustaf Lagerbielke's legs to set up Barcola for a thumping strike.

Olise continued to search for his first goal of the finals, seeing a long-range curler tipped wide before Zetterstrom smothered his low shot one-on-one following the hydration break.

While he could not get on the scoresheet, Olise did notch his fifth assist of the finals, threading through another perfectly weighted pass, this time for Mbappe, who lifted his shot over Zetterstrom to add further gloss to a resounding, statement win.

Sweden attempted a very late rally, with Gyokeres pouncing on a loose ball to fire a low attempt on goal, but Maignan got down to push it away, protecting his clean sheet.

Mbappe keeps the heat on Messi

This was Mbappe's 18th World Cup appearance for France, with only Hugo Lloris (20) and Antoine Griezmann (19) making more, and he continues to push his way up the World Cup scoring charts.

He is now outright second on the all-time list with 18, leaving Miroslav Klose behind, but he remains one behind Lionel Messi (19). He is also level with the Argentine great on six goals for this year's tournament in a remarkable Golden Boot race.

Since Mbappe's debut in the 2018 edition, no player has more World Cup goals (18) or goal involvements (22) than him, with Messi trailing in the 27-year-old's shadow (14 goals, 19 goal contributions).

Mbappe's 10 goals in nine knockout stage games at the World Cup, the most of any player, overtaking Leonidis and Ronaldo Nazario (both eight).

He could easily have had more. Mbappe had five of France's 25 shots, contributing 0.63 to their 3.17 expected goals (xG) – only Olise (six) had more attempts.

Olise might not have got the goal his performance displayed, but his five assists are the outright most by a player at a single World Cup since Thomas Hassler for Germany in 1994.

France, who had Didier Deschamps back in the dugout following his time away from the tournament following the death of his mother, look like the team to beat as things stand, and they are now the first side to ever score three goals in five consecutive matches in the competition's history.