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The Argentine maestro has continued to surpass his eternal rival off the pitch as well following Argentina's World Cup triumph in Qatar.
Argentina superstar Lionel Messi now has the most-liked Instagram post by a sportsperson.
The 35-year-old PSG maestro has overtaken Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo in having the most liked Instagram post by a sportsperson with over 44 million likes and over 1.3 million comments.
Messi took to his official Instagram account hours after helping the Albiceleste lift their third World Cup trophy following their victory over France in the final at the iconic Lusail Stadium on Sunday, December 18, 2022.
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The mercurial playmaker uploaded a post including ten images of him and his team-mates celebrating their victory with a caption that read: 'WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!! I dreamed it so many times, I wanted it so much that I still haven't fallen, I can't believe it
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'Thank you so much to my family, to all who support me and also to all who believed in us.
'We prove once again that Argentinians when we fight together and united we are able to achieve what we aim. The merit is of this group, which is above individuals, is the strength of all fighting for the same dream that was also the one of all Argentinians... We did it!!! LET'S GO ARGENTINA DAMN!!!!! We're seeing each other very soon'
Messi's post has so far received over 44 million likes in 17 hours.
The post has now surpassed Ronaldo's post from last month which was the viral advert for Louis Vuitton ahead of the World Cup in which the Portuguese star and Messi were captured playing chess, with the post garnering 41.9million likes.
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Messi isn’t also far off the most liked Instagram post overall - a record currently held by British advertising creative Chris Godfrey, after he uploaded a photo of an egg in January 2019.
The photo ended up getting 56.1million likes, with the aim of the upload having been to surpass the then-most liked Instagram post, a picture of Kylie Jenner's daughter which had 18.6million likes.
Messi is also closing on reaching 400 million followers on Instagram.
He's currently on 399 million followers on his official Instagram page - still a long way behind Cristiano Ronaldo's following of a staggering 518 million.
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