Lionel Messi smashes world record with Instagram World Cup photo

The egg's record has been broken.

Lionel Messi's social media post after Argentina won the World Cup has become the most liked picture in the history of Instagram. The post overtook an image of an egg that recked up 56.1 million likes. Messi's picture of him holding the trophy aloft after Argentina beat France after a penalty shootout on Sunday had, before midday Tuesday, surpassed the egg in popularity by over 1m likes. The Argentina captain posted 10 pictures from Argentina's WC victory - the country's first since 1986 - which captured the team's unbridled joy at winning the tournament in Qatar. https://www.instagram.com/p/CmUv48DLvxd/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BsOGulcndj-/ Messi's own popularity on the platform also rocketed. The forward now has over 402m followers. Messi captioned his record-breaking post: "WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!! I dreamed it so many times, I wanted it so much that I still haven't fallen, I can't believe it......

"Thank you very much to my family, to all who support me and also to all who believed in us. We demonstrate once again that Argentines when we fight together and united we 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."

The post also trumped one from Ronaldo last month  - an advert for Louis Vuitton ahead of the World Cup in which the Portuguese star and Messi were seen playing chess. It got 41.9m likes. Ronaldo, however, remains the most-followed person on Instagram with 519m followers. Last month, he became the first user  to reach the 500m mark. Related links:

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