World Cup qualifiers: Mbappe equals Henry's France scoring tally as Retegui hits double for Italy

Real Madrid attacker moves to 51 goals for Les Blues as Al Qadsiah new boy notches twice in Gattuso's first game as Azzurri coach

Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring France's second goal in their World Cup qualifying win over Ukraine. Reuters

Kylian Mbappe was on target for France as they started their Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign with a win over Ukraine, which brought the Real Madrid star level with Thierry Henry's tally of 51 international goals.

France took an early lead at the Wroclaw Stadium in Poland on Friday night when Michael Olise started and finished the move to put Les Bleus in front after eight minutes.

Olise started and finished the opening goal on 10 minutes when he released Bradley Barcola down the left flank from deep.

The Bayern Munich man ghosted the length of the pitch to arrive unmarked into the Ukraine box and calmly sweep Barcola's return ball into the bottom corner.

Mbappe sealed the victory with eight minutes to go after being set-up by Madrid teammate Aurelien Tchouameni following a swift French counter-attack.

That lifted the former Paris Saint-Germain attacker up to 51 goals for France, level with Henry in second place on France's all-time scoring list, behind only Olivier Giroud's 57.

The 26-year-old is firmly on course to overtake Giroud's record with the veteran striker having retired from international career after Euro 2024 which saw France lose to eventual champions Spain in the semi-finals.

Mbappe has already won the 2018 World Cup and the 2020-21 Nations League title with France and insists winning more silverware in his priority.

“Big up to Titi [Henry]! But now I want to surpass him! It's an honour to equal a player like Henry,” Mbappe told TF1.

“Everyone knows what he means to us French people, even more so to strikers. He's someone who paved the way, and I have a lot of respect and admiration for him.

“Reaching this milestone so early is crazy, but I like it. I want to keep going and, above all, win games and titles.

“The record is getting closer, but it's not something I think about,” the France captain added. “I don't know if it's because I think I can beat it, or because I think there are more important things.

“But it's true that being the top scorer in the history of the French national team is no small feat.”

Next up for France is Iceland in Group D at Parc des Princes on Tuesday.

In Group I, Saudi Pro League new boy Mateo Retegui scored twice as Italy thrashed Estonia 5-0 to help give new coach Gennaro Gattuso a winning start to his reign.

Retegui, last season's top scorer in Serie A, left Atlanta to join ambitious Saudi side Al Qadsiah during the summer in a surprise move reported to be worth around €70 million.

The 26-year-old started his domestic campaign in impressive fashion scoring twice to help his new team beat Al Najma Saudi 3-1 in their SPL opener last weekend.

And Retegui repeated the trick on Friday night scoring Italy's second and fourth goals at his old Atlanta stamping ground, the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo.

All the goals came in the second half – Retegui providing a deft flick to set up Moise Kean for the first with Giacomo Raspadori and Alessandro Bastoni also scoring – leaving Italy third in Group I after three matches, six points behind leaders Norway who have played one game more, and boast a superior goal difference.

“We showed great hunger, hard work and humility all week. We proved we’re still standing and want to fight for qualification,” Retegui told RAI Sport.

Gattuso was brought in as coach in June to stop Italy's slide towards a third-consecutive missed World Cup finals after Luciano Spalletti announced his was quitting following a 3-0 humbling by the Norwegians.

“We played well and it was all down to the way the boys have conducted themselves this week,” said Gatusso, who was a member of Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning squad.

“We've worked hard and there's been a good atmosphere around the squad.

“When you play as attacking as we did tonight against a better team you expose yourself to risks, but today we were up against a side that had a bit les than us so it was the right thing to do to be so attack-minded.”

With momentum on their side, Italy now turn to Monday’s decisive clash against Israel in Hungary, though Gattuso continues to urge calm as the qualification starts to heat up.

“Nothing can ever be taken for granted and they deserve credit for their attitude throughout. We have an objective, which is to make the people happy and give enthusiasm back to Italians,” he added.