Hamelen (Germany): Just Fontaine is categorical: nobody will ever beat his record 13 goals in a World Cup tournament.
Fontaine took six games to achieve his feat at the 1958 World Cup, when he was a last-minute inclusion on the French squad for injured Reims teammate Rene Bliard.
The closest any player has come since then was Gerd Mueller's 10 goals for West Germany in 1970.
"Beating my record? I don't think it can ever be done," Fontaine said. "The person who wants to beat me has a massive task, doesn't he? He has to score two goals per game over seven games.''
Entering the '58 World Cup in Sweden, the Moroccan-born Fontaine was a little known forward outside of the French league.
Yet he tormented opponents with his pace and finishing - even with someone else's boots. He had to borrow a pair after damaging his own boots in practice.
View old, grainy, footage of Fontaine and he looks lightning quick.
A lack of pressure from within the French federation following Les Bleus' lacklustre buildup and from rivals helped him to maximise his talent, Fontaine concedes.
"You can only do that if don't ask yourself any questions," he said. "At the time nothing bothered me, I even declined to take a penalty."
Fontaine scored four goals in the third-place playoff against West Germany but could have had five when he turned down a chance to take a penalty.
Top strikers at the World Cup now are acknowledged with the golden boot. Fontaine set the record when FIFA did not present a specific award for the tournament's top scorer.
"All I got was a rifle from a Swedish newspaper for being top marksman," said Fontaine. "And I was carried off the field. But that was it."
Playing in the days when there were no substitutes allowed, France lost its semifinal 5-2 to a Brazil team featuring 17-year-old Pele.
Now a portly 72-year-old businessman, Fontaine recalled being amazed at Pele's stunning talent. The pair remain friends, 48 years on.
"As soon as Pele touched the ball you knew he was wonderful," Fontaine said. "He scored three against us. But it was only when I watched the final (vs. Sweden) that I realized just how good he was."
One trick from Pele stood out.
"Sweden had a player called (Reino) Borjesson, very strong with huge thighs," Fontaine said. "Borjesson charged at Pele, who poked the ball over his head with his right foot, spun around, and then shot the ball with his left. It hit the crossbar so hard it bounced back to midfield. And Pele was so skinny!"
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These days, Fontaine said, goalscoring has become too stressful.
"There is an enormous pressure to be top scorer, to win the award," he said.
The stress got too much in 1998 for Brazil's Ronaldo, whom Fontaine had given the best chance of improving the record.
A year before, Ronaldo had spoken boldly of breaking Fontaine's record.
But he ended the competition with just four goals and a reported panic attack hours before Brazil's 3-0 loss to France in the final.
"Ronaldo could have beaten my record, but missed his chance in '98," said Fontaine.
Mueller's 14 goals - spread over the '70 and '74 World Cups give him the aggregate record for most World Cup goals.
Ronaldo, who struck eight times to finish top scorer in 2002, needs three more to pass him.
"He will beat Mueller's record, but not mine," Fontaine said, letting slip a chuckle.
Ronaldo says he no longer thinks of milestones.
"It's not my main goal," Ronaldo said ahead of the team's opener against Croatia on Tuesday. "The most important thing is to win the World Cup."
Fontaine's meteoric rise as a goalscorer saw him notch 200 goals in 213 career games.
"I didn't even take penalties," said Fontaine, who scored 30 goals in 21 games for France.
However, by 1961, it was all over, after breaking his leg for the second time.
"I never got to play at my peak," lamented Fontaine, forced to retire at 27 just as he was preparing to play abroad.
By then, though, he had done enough damage to leave enduring memories in the minds of German soccer fans.
"In the match for third place against West Germany, I scored four goals," Fontaine said. "I still get 10 letters a week from German fans, asking why this happened. They can't understand how someone could score four goals against a German defence."
Asked who was the best finisher of all time, without pausing and with characteristic confidence, he replied: "Fontaine."
"When I was one on one with the goalie, I didn't think about what I should do next," he explained. "I didn't need to, because I knew I would score."
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