Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency: Kylian Mbappé might have thought he had surpassed Lionel Messi, but the Argentine 'Little Magician' didn't take long to respond. French star Mbappé had taken the field and scored his 13th and 14th World Cup goals, moving past Messi to claim sole possession of third place on the list. However, just hours later, Lionel Messi sent a counter-message to the French forward. Reshuffling the rankings, he scaled the Everest of records. In the 18th minute of the match against Algeria in Kansas City, he put Argentina ahead with a magnificent goal—his 14th in the World Cup. The Argentine captain then scored again in the 60th minute, overtaking Mbappé. Later, in the 76th minute, Messi completed a hat-trick, equalling Miroslav Klose's tally and moving two steps ahead of Mbappé. The battle is set to become even fiercer now. Seeing such a brilliant Messi right from the start must have left Mbappé deeply disappointed; he had hoped to surpass Klose with ease, but Messi spoiled his plans. Earlier, Mbappé had scored a brace in France's 3-1 victory over Senegal. By scoring his first goal in the 66th minute, he surpassed Brazilian legend Pelé, joining Just Fontaine and Messi in the rankings. After Senegal narrowed the deficit in stoppage time, Mbappé sealed France's win with a stunning long-range shot that beat goalkeeper Édouard Mendy. With this second goal, he overtook Olivier Giroud to become France's all-time leading goalscorer with 58 goals. However, shortly after, Messi scored, bringing their World Cup goal tallies level once again. In the race for records, though, Mbappé is moving at a much faster pace. This French forward reached the milestone of 14 goals in just his 15th World Cup match, whereas Argentine captain Messi took 27 matches to achieve the same. Meanwhile, the all-time leading scorer, Klose, netted 16 goals in 24 matches. However, in terms of efficiency, France's Just Fontaine stands above everyone else, having scored his 13 goals in just six matches during a single World Cup. At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Mbappé won the Golden Boot—beating Messi by a single goal—while Messi claimed the Golden Ball award. Now, Mbappé has taken the field with the aim of leading France to the final for the third consecutive time and securing his second World Cup title; Lionel Messi harbors the same dream.