On December 18, 2022, Lionel Messi eternalised his greatness on the world stage, lifting the World Cup trophy for Argentina after defeating France on penalties.
Later that day, he uploaded an Instagram picture of himself lifting the World Cup aloft, whereas on the shoulders of his good buddy Sergio Aguero and surrounded by jubilant Argentinian supporters.
As of February 2023, that picture has been preferred by over 75 million totally different folks – the most-liked submit on Instagram in its historical past – all keen to indicate their help for the participant broadly thought of to be the greatest-ever.
Nonetheless, what if FourFourTwo instructed you that the trophy within the picture is not even the true factor: that it is a duplicate and that Messi’s Argentine teammate Angel Di Maria was holding the precise prized possession some 50 yards away within the centre of the pitch?
As journalist Martin Mazur wrote in FourFourTwo: “Aguero had the particular job of carrying Messi on his shoulders, whereas Argentina’s star man held the World Cup – even when it was a reproduction, Messi would later discover out.
“Probably the most-liked Instagram picture of all time? Properly, it’s not the true trophy, Di Maria had that within the centre of the pitch. It didn’t actually matter – Messi laughed when he came upon.”
In fact, Messi nonetheless managed to get his fingers on the trophy loads of occasions all through the continuing days, even taking the World Cup to mattress with him in a room he shared with Aguero, regardless of the previous Manchester Metropolis man not even taking part in professionally anymore.
Different gamers additionally a part of the staff’s journey however not within the squad for the match made the journey to Qatar and joined within the celebrations.
Mazur wrote: “Messi invited the now retired Sergio Aguero, his room-mate for the reason that 2005 U20 World Cup, to share with him forward of the ultimate. Gamers dominated out because of damage, like Giovani Lo Celso, Nico Gonzalez and Joaquin Correa, travelled to help the staff and lifted the trophy alongside them.”
Messi’s submit of him holding the World Cup whereas on Aguero’s shoulders is now the most-liked social media submit in historical past – not bad contemplating it is a pretend trophy he is obtained in his fingers. Not that anybody can have seen.
