Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the best soccer players ever, are accustomed to setting records both on and off the field. However, the duo made headlines on Saturday night, one day before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when they shared an Instagram advertisement featuring chess being played on a Louis Vuitton briefcase.
Within 24 hours, Ronaldo’s post had received almost 30 million likes, whereas Messi’s had only received 24.5 million.
Despite not having kicked a ball in a FIFA World Cup 2022 match in Qatar, Messi and Ronaldo are already making waves online thanks to an Instagram photo of the pair.
Intriguingly, there is no football involved; instead, the two football icons are depicted intently competing in a game of chess on a checked Louis Vuitton suitcase.
Both celebrities shared the image on their separate Instagram accounts at 11 p.m. IST on Saturday, which is when it went viral. The photo was sponsored by the Louis Vuitton clothing brand. On Ronaldo’s page, the post has already received over 29 million likes, while it has over 23 million likes on Messi’s page.
Interestingly, a snapshot of an egg shared by the Egg Gang’s Instagram account, “world_record_egg,” has amassed 55,882,227 likes as of Nov. 20, 2022, breaking the Guinness World Record for the most likes on a single post.
Posted on Jan. 4, 2019, The Egg Gang is “using their record-breaking egg as a platform to support people who suffer from stress and anxiety as a result of social media.”
While Messi and Ronaldo’s posts are slightly less altruistic, we still have to wonder: Who won their game?
Why did the Messi-Ronaldo chess picture go viral?
While paid marketing and the scale of both Ronaldo and Messi’s popularity did play a big part in the astonishing number of likes the picture has received till now, the timing and content also struck a chord with the fans.
The picture, already being dubbed iconic by many, has made fans of both players set aside their fiery Messi-Ronaldo rivalry debates on social media to appreciate the candid frame of the two together.
The upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is expected to be the last dance for both the greats and will mark the end of an era where fans had the opportunity to watch two of the best footballers of all time go head-to-head for records, trophies, and various personal honours, week in and week out.
Furthermore, images of both players together outside of football matches and award ceremonies are rare.
Additionally, fans have also started to spot a few unconfirmed Easter eggs in the picture, which has added to the excitement around the Messi-Ronaldo chess photo.
Fans have dug up pictures from the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where a Louis Vuitton briefcase was used to present the FIFA World Cup trophy ahead of the opening fixture and the final in Moscow. It resembles the trunk on which Ronaldo and Messi are playing chess, and the picture is a symbolic representation of the battle to ensue, according to some.
Also, the positions of the chess pieces in the picture mirror those of a real game—a match between chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura from 2017.
Interestingly, if Lionel Messi’s Argentina wins Group C and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal tops Group H at the FIFA World Cup 2022 and both teams make the final at Lusail, fans may be treated to a dream Messi vs. Ronaldo faceoff in a FIFA World Cup final.
