Ronaldo, Messi’s iconic photo set new Instagram record

On Sunday, two of the best footballers in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel MessiIt broke the internet when they posted photos that no one expected to see, especially their fans.

According to Front Office Sports, the iconic photo of the pair of all-time football greats playing chess has garnered more than 38 million likes. Making it the second most liked post on Instagram of all time.

The two players shared the iconic photo on the day the 2022 World Cup kicked off as part of a paid partnership with Louis Vuitton. The famous American portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz, known for her captivating portraits, especially the most famous ones, did it.

Messi’s post has more than 29 million likes, making it the fifth most liked post on the platform. Ronaldo’s post received almost 39 million likes.

With Louis Vuitton’s new campaign, Ronaldo and Messi are responsible for the 20 best Instagram posts of all time.

Battle of ACHUR

As the two players battle it out on the pitch in their matches, it’s a fan-made GOATs (Great of the Greatest) that debates daily who is the better pairing between the Portuguese and the Argentine.

The argument revolves around skills, stats and social media followings.

Ronaldo also recently became the first to reach 500 million followers on Instagram, while Messi has 377 million followers.

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According to a Nielsen data center, the average value of a Ronaldo-branded social post is worth $2.79 million. In comparison, Messi’s is worth $1.95 million, the highest figure of any footballer in the world.

Despite their huge numbers, the stars have yet to come close to the most-liked Instagram post, which is a photo of an egg that has received 55.9 million likes since January 2019.

Big reactions (hidden details)

Passionate fans of the football players jumped on their keyboards to share their thoughts on the photo. While some claimed the image to be the greatest photo of all time, others said it was Photoshopped, and others noticed small details.

From the behind-the-scenes video released by LV (Louis Vuitton), many fans speculate that the famous photo is photoshopped; in the video, Messi and Ronaldo do not appear together in the same frame.

Ronaldo and Messi behind the Louis Vuitton photos.pic.twitter.com/nv4ErtRmSR

— TC (@totalcristiano) November 20, 2022

Additionally, many chess fans noted that an exciting feature of the image is the placement of the chess pieces.

So Louis Vuitton’s photo shoot with Messi/Ronaldo shows a game between Magnus and Hikaru in 2017. But… why exactly that? pic.twitter.com/ETRWaawtra

— GothamChess (@GothamChess) November 20, 2022

As chess fans have pointed out on Twitter, the placement of the chess pieces in the image mimics the arrangement of a popular game between chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura in 2017, which ended in a draw.

Some fans also noticed that the Louis Vuitton trunk used to hold the chessboard was the same one used to present the FIFA World Cup trophy in 2018.

The box below… 🧐 pic.twitter.com/DSHRbB2Wa9

— TC (@totalcristiano) November 19, 2022

Louis Vuitton is also credited with designing the FIFA World Cup trophy case this year.

The Nigerians refused to be left out of the analysis of the footage as one user said the football legend’s concept was to recreate the scene of Wizkid and Burna boys playing a game of Ayo from the Balon D’or music video scene.

I can’t believe Ronaldo and Messi recreated this photo of Burna and WizKid. pic.twitter.com/KzMP9p7rb4

— Ediyie (@Abby_edussy) November 20, 2022