Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have walked the most at the World Cup, with the Argentine star covering more than double the distance covered by Cristiano Ronaldo

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe may be the top scorers at the World Cup, but they certainly don’t cover themselves in glory in the running department.

With five goals each, Messi and Mbappe led Argentina and France respectively to Sunday’s final in Qatar.

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The Paris Saint-Germain teammates not only have a chance to win the tournament, but also the Ballon d’Or and the Golden Shoe.

But what may surprise football fans is that the pair have covered more than half the distance they have covered in their six matches.

In the stats obtained by Lord Ping, Messi got the most out of all the players in the 53.11km he covered.

He completed 30.61 km, which means he completed 57.64% of the time on the pitch during the World Cup.

This is, incredibly, slightly more than the total of 30.5km covered by Cristiano Ronaldo, although the Portuguese skipper was used sparingly in the knockout stages, he covered 13.35km of figure.

Despite Messi’s high walking stats, he has covered more distance than anyone on the 29-man list, which contained no midfielders.

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Blues star Mbappe follows him in second place, having covered 22.85km of his 44.54km run, which equates to 51.31% walking time.

Although it has to be said that Messi and Mbappe often occupy pockets of space before igniting the afterburners when played from behind.

They were also allowed to maintain their position high up the pitch instead of constantly dropping back to help the defence.

Given that is the case, it is perhaps surprising that Brazilian centre-back Thiago Silva is third on the list after walking [17.31km] for 48.17% of the time.

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However, the Chelsea veteran walked less than Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk [22.72km]Cristian Romero of Tottenham [20.37km] and Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski [19.33km].

Commenting on the stats, a spokesman for Lord Ping said: “Lionel Messi is possibly the best player in history and his walking figures really prove how devastating he is with the ball at his feet.

“At the World Cup, no player has walked more than the Argentine magician and yet he is the favorite for both the Golden Boot and the Ballon d’Or.

“Kylian Mbappe has shown the world just how quick he can be when launched, but his numbers show he also likes to take a nice walk before launching into the explosive arsenal that he is.”

With football’s holy grail on offer on Sunday, it seems likely that Messi and Mbappe will once again save their sprint until they are guaranteed a chance to find themselves in front of goal.