Kylian Mbappé racked up the 300th competitive goal of his professional career with a superb long-range lob in France's record 14-0 UEFA EURO qualifying win over Gibraltar to reach the milestone faster than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Neither Ronaldo nor his former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Messi scored 300 competitive goals before their 25th birthday, which Mbappé celebrates only next month.
The France captain brought up his triple century when he spotted Gibraltar goalkeeper Dayle Coleing off his line, and fired over him from 42 metres to bring up his 17th career hat-trick with the longest strike in his national team's history.
"I'd been watching the goalkeeper for at least 25 minutes. He was very far out, I didn't understand why," explained Mbappé. "After that, instinct kicked in. When Youssouf [Fofana] won the ball back, I knew straight away what I was going to do."
It was the PSG forward's 46th goal in 74 international appearances, moving him ahead of Antoine Griezmann on his country's all-time scoring chart. He is now just three goals behind Thierry Henry - France's current U21 coach - and ten off teammate Olivier Giroud, who scored twice himself in Les Bleus' biggest-ever win.
"Kylian, over and above what he's able to do, scoring a hat-trick…he's totally commited on the pitch and in his role as captain," explained France coach Didier Deschamps after the win at Nice's Allianz Riviera. "It gives him a responsibility towards the squad, and he's done that perfectly, supported by Antoine [Griezmann] too."
