Kathmandu: France captain Kylian Mbappe moved into joint second place on the all time FIFA World Cup scoring list after scoring twice in France’s group stage victory over Iraq.

The 27 year old forward took his World Cup tally to 16 goals, drawing level with German legend Miroslav Klose and moving within two goals of the all time record held by Lionel Messi.

Mbappe opened the scoring in the 14th minute on his 100th international appearance. Combining with Michael Olise on the right flank, he unleashed a powerful left footed strike from the edge of the box that slipped past Iraqi goalkeeper Ahmed Basil despite getting a hand to the ball.

His second goal arrived in the 54th minute following a costly defensive error by Iraq. Defender Rebin Sulaka played a short back pass to Basil, who failed to control the ball under pressure from Ousmane Dembele. Dembele quickly squared the ball to Mbappe, who calmly tapped into an empty net to double France’s advantage.

The brace saw Mbappe equal Klose’s tally of 16 World Cup goals, leaving him just two behind Messi’s newly established record of 18.

Earlier in the day, Messi made history by surpassing Klose’s long standing mark. The Argentina captain scored twice in a 2-0 win over Austria, taking his World Cup total to 18 goals and becoming the leading scorer in men’s FIFA World Cup history.

Messi had already matched Klose’s record during Argentina’s opening match against Algeria before moving clear with his latest brace.

Following Monday’s matches, the all time World Cup scoring chart is led by Messi with 18 goals, followed by Mbappe and Klose on 16. Brazil great Ronaldo is next with 15 goals, ahead of Germany’s Gerd Müller with 14 and France’s Just Fontaine with 13.

According to FIFA, Mbappe also became only the tenth French player to reach 100 appearances for the national team. He made his senior debut for France on March 25, 2017, in a 3-1 victory over Luxembourg during qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.