Captain Kylian Mbappé continued to make history when he became French all-time and World Cup record scorer on Tuesday.
Mbappé opened the scoring in the 66th and wrapped up matters in stoppage time as Les Bleus started their campaign with a 3-1 victory against Senegal.
That took his France tally to 58 and one more then Olivier Giroud and his World Cup tally to 14 and one more than Just Fontaine, who scored all his 13 at the 1958 tournament.
"Congrats Kylian you made it. I'm really happy for him. He had a good second half. He showed the team the way," Giroud said on BBC One.
With at least two more group matches against Iraq and Norway to come he is set for a big competition with Argentine great Lionel Messi for the all-time World Cup top scorer crown currently held by German Miroslav Klose with 16 goals.
Messi takes a tally of 13 into Argentina's first game against Algeria and the start of his record sixth World Cup later on Tuesday.
Mbappé made his France debut at age 18 in 2017 and and scored five goals at his first World Cup a year later, including one in the final against Croatia, to lift Les Bleus to the title in Russia.
Four years later in Qatar he was tournament top scorer with eight goals, including a hat-trick in the final which France however lost on penalties against Messi's Argentina. Brazil icon Pelé is the only other player to have scored in two finals.
Now 27, he has also scored freely at club level, first at Monaco, then for seven years at Paris Saint-Germain and since 2024 at Real Madrid where he won the Golden Boot as Europe's best scorer in his first season.
However, he has also come under criticism even from Real's own fans as the Spanish giants have won no title since his arrival.
This been named unfair by others, with German 2014 World Cup winner Thomas Müller saying on Magenta TV after Tuesday's match: "I am happy for Kylian because he got a lot of stick."
Mbappé took the issue in his stride, saying: "There is no revenge. If I played against the critics I would have to play until forever. You have to stay calm.
"I am playing for my country, I want to got to the final."
There was no sign of this in the first half where Senegal had the better chances and hit the post from Nicolas Jackson.
But Les Bleus were a different team in the second half. Mbappé was controversially not awarded a penalty after being clipped by Sadio Mané but he then opened the scoring into the far corner after being set up superbly by the lively Michael Olise.
He celebrated by playing an imaginary flute as promised recently in a Fox Sports TV interview, having revealed he played the flute as a child.
Bradley Barcola got the second, Senegal's Ibrahim Mbaye struck in stoppage time but any comeback hopes ended a minute later when Mbappé drilled into the top left corner from some 30 metres.
"We aren't at our best yet but it is great to start a competition like this with a win. We all know that a World Cup isn't easy," Mbappe said.
