Wayne Rooney believes that Lionel Messi was “unfairly” beaten to the World Cup Golden Boot by Kylian Mbappe.
The 39-year-old suffered double disappointment on Sunday evening, as his Argentina side were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the final, and his lack of goals meant that the French striker claimed the title for top goalscorer at this summer’s tournament.
The pair had topped the goalscoring charts in North America, and Mbappe led the way with 10 strikes ahead of the final.
The Real Madrid forward had netted France’s first and third goals in their 6-4 defeat by England in the bronze final in Miami, Florida, on Saturday.
It meant that Messi needed to score twice to move level with the 27-year-old in the table, and the duo would have been dead-level on ten goals and four assists each.
Had Messi notched an assist as well as a brace against Spain, he would have claimed the Golden Boot himself.
On BBC Sport, former England striker Rooney questioned the credibility of Mbappe’s two goals in the third-place play-off.
“I just think France got knocked out of the tournament and had the third and fourth play-off game,” he said.
“Listen, I don’t [think they should count]. They do obviously but I think that’s very unfair on Messi.”
Fellow ex-England international Alan Shearer had labelled England’s win over their fierce rivals in Florida as almost like an exhibition.
“I was just looking at yesterday’s game the way it was played like a testimonial,” Shearer.
“France are out and Mbappe has scored his two goals. France are out.
“Lionel Messi is playing in a World Cup final against a Spain team that have only conceded one goal and that is a lot more difficult.”
