It is hard to look past Mbappe as the best player in the world right now.

After scoring 42 goals in 44 games for Real Madrid last season - making him the top scorer in both La Liga and the Champions League - he has helped establish France's attack as the most fearsome at this World Cup.

The second-most expensive player in history leads the Golden Boot race along with Messi with eight goals in six games, and has made more goal contributions (11) than any other player.

With 19 goals, if it were not for Messi (20), Mbappe would be the World Cup's all-time leading goalscorer after surpassing Miroslav Klose's long-standing record (16).

The only blot on his CV is that despite enjoying two magnificent individual seasons at Real Madrid, he is yet to win a major trophy in the Spanish capital.

After scoring in his first World Cup final, Mbappe scored a hat-trick in his second - but ended up on the losing side.

This summer the 27-year-old captain overtook Olivier Giroud as France's all-time leading goalscorer, and now has 64 in 104 games.

"For me it's just ambition and confidence," Giroud told BBC Match of the Day when asked about Mbappe's remarkable rise.

"He knows where he wants to go. He is a leader and you could see from a young age he was very at ease. He was mature for his age."

Mbappe wants to break every record he can, but only if they serve the collective - it is no secret he is obsessed with equalling Pele's record of three World Cup triumphs.

"He's carried this team through three successive World Cups where he has been the pivotal player," says French football journalist Luke Entwistle.

Yet, after his arrival in Madrid coincided with back-to-back trophyless seasons for Real Madrid, he came into this World Cup with something to prove.

"He's put in great numbers, but the perception in France and abroad is that he's a player who is detrimental to the collective," adds Entwistle.

"There was talk about needing to run more off the ball, doing more defensive work. He has put that into action. The way France have been winning the ball back high this tournament would not have been possible otherwise."

Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini are widely regarded as the two greatest France players of all time, but French football expert Julien Laurens believes Mbappe will surpass them.

"I predict him to be the number one by the end of his career. He has at least one more World Cup after this and the Euros to play in so he will probably become the greatest player we have ever had."

Lamine Yamal only turned 19 on Monday, but he is already the best young forward on the planet.

A breakout 2023-24 season with Barcelona ended with him being included in Spain's Euro 2024 squad, and like Mbappe in 2018, he shone in his first major tournament and inspired his team to glory.

Last year he was the Ballon d'Or runner-up aged 18, but a hamstring injury sustained in April disrupted his preparations for the World Cup.

With just one goal in five starts, he certainly has not sparkled like Mbappe, Messi or Jude Bellingham.

"I ask him to be calm," said manager Luis de la Fuente. "He came of age last year. He is 19. Now imagine I just told him to be calm, enjoy and forget about any anxiety. He should enjoy his football. The big day for Lamine has yet to come at this World Cup."

Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams' lack of fitness has forced manager Luis de la Fuente to tweak Spain's style - the European champions created chaos down the wings, whereas the current side prioritise control.

"It means Lamine Yamal is working with less space, more defenders doubling up on him, and less dynamism in Spain's game as a whole," says Spanish football journalist Ruairidh Barlow.

"So to a certain extent, it's logical that he isn't dazzling. What De la Fuente and Spain need from him - banking on control of the game and a solid defence - is two or three moments per game in which he unlocks or unbalances the defence. So far he has more or less provided that."

De la Fuente reinforced that idea before Lamine Yamal won more duels than any of his team-mates in the quarter-final victory against Belgium.

"This is the moment for him," the manager said. "Not the moment to score 10 goals, but the moment to be decisive in decisive matches."

The strength of this Spain team is rooted in the collective, but there is still a level of deference to the 19-year-old.

"We sometimes forget his age and perhaps we demand too much of him, but he's so capable," Xavi, who gave Lamine Yamal his Barcelona debut, wrote in The Athletic., external

"He has such an ability to do so many things on the pitch that his influence has grown. Team-mates search for him more. When there are problems at various points in the match, the ball goes to Lamine.

"He's a leader on the pitch who makes the difference at a young age - something we've only seen with Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Pele and maybe Ronaldo [Nazario].

"The next 15 to 20 years belong to Lamine, if he wants."

There is no denying Mbappe has far outperformed Lamine Yamal in front of goal this summer.

The Frenchman has scored eight goals from his 30 shots (27%), while Lamine Yamal has converted just one of his 23 shots (4%).

Mbappe has provided three assists to Lamine Yamal's none and created 11 more chances, though the winger does edge it on expected assists (xA) though, which suggests he has created better chances but his team-mates simply have not been as clinical.

Lamine Yamal has been far more successful with his dribbling, completing twice as many as the France forward, while he has also worked harder for his team defensively, making eight tackles to Mbappe's one and winning the ball high up the pitch twice as often.

While France and Spain have only met once before at a World Cup - France came from behind to win 3-1 in the last 16 of the 2006 tournament - Mbappe and Lamine Yamal featured when the pair last faced each other at a major tournament.

Lamine Yamal scored a stunning equaliser as Spain came from behind to win 2-1 in the semi-finals of Euro 2024.

Last summer Lamine Yamal scored twice and Mbappe once as Spain prevailed 5-4 in a thrilling Uefa Nations League semi-final.

The Spaniard has ended up on the winning side in eight of his 10 previous meetings with Mbappe, though the Frenchman has scored an incredible nine goals in those 10 games compared with Lamine Yamal's six.

The latest edition of this growing rivalry is undoubtedly the most important - the victor will be expected to go on to lift the World Cup in New Jersey on 19 July.

Graphic and stats provided by Chris Collinson.