Since Lionel Messi's hat trick against Algeria, the euphoria of the 2026 World Cup has grown significantly. In addition to the dispute over who will end up champion, the table of top scorers in the World Cup is on fire.

The Argentine star and the German Miroslav Klose share the top with 16 goals each, however, the “10” has more games left to increase the tally.

Behind both of them was the Brazilian Ronaldo, with 15, scoring his last goal in the 2006 World Cup.

And although the spotlight is on Messi at the moment, Kylian Mbappé's projection indicates that he could surpass him. The Frenchman is 27 years old and has 14 goals in World Cups, after the double he scored against Senegal. He is tied with “Torpedo” Gerd Müller.

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How many games did Messi, Ronaldo and Klose need to be top scorers in the World Cup?

The main statistic focuses on the number of goals, but the effectiveness is determined by the number of games each player played to reach the top.

Ronaldo played in four World Cups (1994-1998-2002-2006) and played 19 games, scoring 15 goals. Furthermore, 8 of those 15 goals were scored in Korea-Japan 2002.

For his part, Miroslav Klose scored his 16 in 24 games. Like Ronaldo, the German participated in four World Cups: (2002-2006-2010-2014).

Finally, Lionel Messi needed 27 games to reach the same 16 as Klose. And curiously he played two more World Cups: 2006-2010-2014-2018-2022-2026.

But there is a factor that adds merit to the Argentine and that is that, unlike Ronaldo and Klose, he is not a center forward, but a playmaker.

However, Kylian Mbappé breaks the papers. The Real Madrid player barely needed 15 games to score his 14 goals, playing in only three World Cups. His scoring projection indicates that the Frenchman will soon become the leader.

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