Lionel Messi's World Cup celebration post is most-liked in Instagram history

LUSAIL CITY, QATAR - DECEMBER 18: Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates victory with the trophy after the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Marvin Ibo Guengoer - GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)

Freshly crowned World Cup champion Lionel Messi has scored another record-breaking achievement: racking up the most likes on an Instagram post.

More than 61.6 million people have liked Messi’s Monday Instagram post celebrating Argentina’s World Cup final win.

The post features several photos of Messi holding the World Cup trophy above his head, celebrating with his teammates, and waving to fans. Argentina defeated France in a close game that saw team captain Messi scoring two of his team’s three goals before they won in a penalty shootout.

“CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!” Messi wrote in Spanish in the caption. “So many times I dreamed it, so much I wanted it that I still … can’t believe it.”

The previous Instagram record belonged to a single photo of an egg. That pic was posted on the account world_record_egg with the stated objective of surpassing the 18 million likes on then-record holder Kylie Jenner’s Instagram post.

The egg currently has 56.7 million likes.

Previous record-holders of the most-liked Instagram photo, according to Guinness World Records, include Beyonce Knowles-Carter’s announcement of her pregnancy in 2017, and posts by celebrity influencers including Kylie Jenner’s sister Kendall Jenner and half-sister Kim Kardashian.

Another football star recently set an Instagram record when Cristiano Ronaldo, the most-followed celebrity on the platform, cracked 500 million followers after posting a Louis Vuitton ad that featured him and Messi playing chess. Messi has 403 million followers.

Messi has long been considered one of the greatest players of this generation, but a World Cup championship eluded him until this year. Ahead of the tournament he said that this would likely be his last chance to achieve a World Cup win.