A collection of photos football legend Lionel Messi uploaded after winning the World Cup with Argentina on Sunday has become the most-liked post of all time on Instagram.
The 35-year-old completed his trophy cabinet at Qatar 2022 as Argentina beat holders France 4-2 on penalties following a thrilling 3-3 extra-time draw.
A few hours after Gonzalo Montiel smashed the winning spot kick past Hugo Lloris at the Lusail Stadium, Messi made his 10-photo post on Instagram led by a snap of him smiling while holding the World Cup trophy aloft.
By Monday afternoon, the post had already become the most popular ever made by a sportsperson with over 46 million ‘likes’.
This eclipsed a photo generational rival Cristiano Ronaldo shared of himself and Messi playing chess in a Louis Vuitton advert last month, which achieved just over 42 million ‘likes’.
At this point, Messi’s post still trailed the famous photo of an egg which achieved “world record” status with 56.14 million ‘likes’ after originally being uploaded on January 4, 2019.
But early on Tuesday morning, after Argentina received a hero’s welcome in Buenos Aires, Messi surged past that mark, and currently has 57.9 million ‘likes’ and counting.
Other snaps in Messi’s post showed him kissing the trophy on the podium and being mobbed by his teammates after falling to the turf when Argentina’s third triumph in tournament history was confirmed.
“WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!,” Messi wrote in the caption. “I dreamed it so many times, I wanted it so much that the penny still hasn’t dropped, I can’t believe it……
“Thank you very much to my family, to all who support me and also to all [of those] who believed in us. We demonstrated once again that Argentines, when we fight together and are united, are capable of achieving what we set out to do.
“The merit belongs to this group, which is above individualities. It is the strength of all fighting for the same dream, that was also the dream of all Argentines… We did it!!!,” he concluded, adding “Come on Argentina, f*ck!!!!!” before signing off.
A photo Messi later posted of himself with the World Cup trophy on the plane heading home to Buenos Aires is closing in on 44 million likes and is currently fourth in the all-time list.
Ronaldo may be put out by Messi again surpassing him on another record list, but he can still take comfort in the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner trailing him by some way in total Instagram followers.
Messi currently has 402 million compared to the Portuguese’s 519 million.
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