Lionel Messi's World Cup post is Instagram's most-liked ever

Fiachra Gallagher

Lionel Messi has claimed another world title just days after lifting the World Cup in Qatar — he now holds the record of most-liked Instagram post of all time.

A series of photos posted to Messi's account, which boasts 405 million followers, shows the Argentine captain lifting the World Cup trophy aloft and celebrating with teammates.

The post is approaching 70 million likes at the time of writing.

Argentina overcame the challenge of Kylian Mbappe's France after a thrilling final at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday. It was their first World Cup triumph in 36 years.

Another Messi post holds third place in the table of most-liked Instagram posts of all time — over 45 million people liked photos of the PSG talisman in bed with the World Cup trophy.

The previous record for most-liked post on the Meta-owned platform shows, puzzlingly, a simple photograph of an egg.

Instagram account @world_record_egg became an Internet meme in 2019.

The account posted a photo of the egg on January 4th, 2019, with the caption "Let's set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)! We got this."

Influencer and media personality Jenner had previously held the record of most-liked post. Soon after @world_record_egg posted the photograph of an egg, however, Jenner's record was overtaken.

The post currently has roughly 57 million likes.

The owner of the @world_record_egg remained a mysetery for some time, before the New York Times reported British advertising executive Chris Godfrey as the creator of the record-breaking post.

The sole purpose of the account was to get as many likes as possible, Godfrey and two associates were reported as saying.