Argentina captain and talisman Lionel Messi enjoyed a massive homecoming welcome after returning to Buenos Aires with the FIFA World Cup trophy on Tuesday (December 20). Argentina won the World Cup title for the third time, after a gap of 36 years. Messi enjoyed tremendous success in the FIFA World Cup 2022, winning the ‘Golden Ball’ award after his twin strikes in the final against France on Sunday (December 18).


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Messi is now ruling the social media and Instagram as well. The Argentina footballer’s post after winning the World Cup is now the ‘most liked’ image in Instagram’s history.


Messi wrote in Spanish which loosely translates to, “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 that was also the dream of all Argentines… We did it!!!”



Messi posted several photographs from the historic final which Argentina won against France 4-2 on penalties after the match ended 3-3 in extra-time. The Instagram post has amassed more than 66.9 million likes and more than 2 million comments in just over a day.


The photo of an egg became the most-liked photo on Instagram ever with 56 million likes when it was posted on January 4, 2019. The Instagram account called ‘world_record_egg’ has only ever posted that one photo and it has more than 4.7 million followers. This imaged is now the second-most liked in the world with 57.5 million ‘likes’.



Meanwhile, thousands of fans lined up in the middle of the night to try to get a glimpse of the Argentina football team that won one of the greatest World Cup finals of all time ahead what is scheduled to be a day of celebrations in Buenos Aires. Members of the team, led by captain Lionel Messi, were all smiles as they descended from the plane in Ezeiza, right outside Argentina's capital, shortly before 3 am on Tuesday onto a red carpet that had been rolled out for the squad.


Messi was the first player from the plane carrying the World Cup, flanked by coach Lionel Scaloni, who put his arm around the captain as they walked past a sign that read, “Thank you, champions.”


The players were welcomed by rock band La Mosca singing ‘Muchachos’, a song that was written by a fan to the tune of an old song by the band and became a popular unofficial anthem for Argentine fans at the World Cup in Qatar.


(with PTI inputs)