Capturing Lionel Messi’s viral moment: The story behind the most liked photo on

CNN
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Lionel Messi sits on Sergio Aguero’s shoulders, both hands clasped firmly on the World Cup trophy as he holds it aloft.

A broad smile is etched across his face, his eyes alight; it is a moment of pure, raw joy, the culmination of a lifelong dream after years of World Cup heartbreak all captured in a split second.

It’s a photo that Messi chose to upload to celebrate his World Cup victory over France – now the most liked post in Instagram history, overtaking an ordinary brown egg – and was captured by Getty photographer Shaun Botterill, who had a front row seat to one of the most iconic moments in sports history.

Botterill says the photographers at Sunday’s World Cup final made a plan for one of them to go and stand on the pitch in front of the advertising hoardings by the main stand that held the vast majority of the Argentina fans in the Lusail Stadium.

After Messi had spent some time with his family following the trophy presentation, Argentina’s captain started to make his way over to the fans, causing the photographers to rush towards the goal at that end of the pitch.

“I almost got trapped, but just got trapped in the right place,” Botterill tells CNN. “I think if most of us [photographers] are honest, you always need a bit of luck and I had a bit on Sunday night.

“Messi was just there and he didn’t move that much, sometimes you get pushed around, and he just was doing all the bits, one-handed, two hands on the trophy.

“We had no idea what was going to happen at the end. You can plan for the trophy lift, but you can’t plan for the run around and you don’t know how chaotic it’s going to be. I was pretty close to him, I’m probably like two meters away maximum.

“It is quite a weird feeling, it’s a bit surreal, you go: ‘Holy s**t,’ he’s right there where you want him to be and that doesn’t happen often.

“Even his hands coming up [with the trophy], I think the way he’s holding it and smiling, he’s definitely got a moment with the fans.”

As Aguero, a former Argentina teammate of Messi’s who retired in December 2021 after being diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia, carried his friend away towards the other side of the stand, Botterill immediately grabbed a cable from one of the remote cameras behind the goal, plugged it into his camera and sent the photo to his editors.

By chance, Botterill’s son happened to be working on the editing desk that night.

“My eldest messaged me and said: ‘I’ve edited your picture dad, it’s a pretty nice picture,’” Botterill recalls.

His son’s feedback has proved quite the understatement.

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