In Short
- Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe are tied at 5 goals each going into the FIFA World Cup finals
- France will be playing consecutive FIFA World Cup finals
- FIFA has a unique rule to break the tie in case players finish with same number of goals
France and Argentina have reached the finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022. On Sunday, December 18, Lionel Messi will step out for the last time in an Argentina shirt in the quadrennial competition at the Lusail Iconic Stadium. This will be Messi's final shot at winning the World Cup, a trophy that has eluded his glittering cabinet in his illustrious career.
On the other side of things will be France, and their power-packed line-up that have demolished their opponents while reaching the final of the tournament. France's only possible bad day has come against Morocco in the semi-finals of the tournament, where their defense looked exposed against the direct attacking threat of Hakim Ziyech, Sofiane Boufal and Youssouf En Neysri.
However, France managed to see out the attacks and moved into the finals, defeating the African side 2-0 in the semi-finals of the tournament. Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Mauni scored for the French side as they downed the African and Arab hopes in the tournament.
With Kylian Mbappe not scoring against Morocco, the Golden Boot race heated up on Wednesday 14 December. Mbappe is now tied with Lionel Messi with 5 goals a piece going into the FIFA World Cup 2022 final.
This begs a very important question. What happens if the World Cup top scorers are tied in goals?
What if there is nothing separating Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe? Who wins the Golden Boot, one of the prestigious awards in the history of World football. Neither of the players have won the award in their careers and would like to leave their mark in the history of the game.
In case that Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe or anyone else gets tied at the same number of goals, the player with the least number of penalties will be awarded the Golden Boot.
At the moment, Lionel Messi has converted the three penalties, one each against Netherlands, Croatia and Saudi Arabia, while all of Mbappe's goals are from the outfield.
In case Lionel Messi scores and Mbappe does not, Messi will be taking the Golden Boot award by automatic choice.
Hypothetically if Messi and Mbappe were to be tied in number of penalties and outfield goals, the award would have gone to the player with most number of assists.
