LIONEL MESSI was the picture of happiness as he jetted back to Argentina with the World Cup trophy.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar helped guide La Ablisceleste to their third Jules Rimet Trophy on Sunday night with a penalty shootout victory over France – which came after pulsating 3-3 draw.
Lionel Messi finally got his hands on the World Cup Credit: REX
The footy legend was all smiles as he held the Jules Rimet Trophy Credit: REX
Messi posed with the trophy on Argentina’s flight back to Buenos Aires Credit: INSTAGRAM@LEOMESSI
In the past several hours, Messi has hardly ever let the trophy leave his side. On Argentina’s trip back to Buenos Aires, he gripped it securely.
On Monday afternoon, the 35-year-old uploaded a photo of himself clutching the trophy while flying to his Instagram account.
His nearly 400 million followers also flooded him with comments, one of which said, “Let’s go, champ.”
Another person remarked, “Best ever!”
Messi’s post has earned an astounding 15.1 million likes as of Monday afternoon.
But compared to the number of likes his first post after the contest garnered, that was less than a quarter.
Messi eventually let go of the trophy to allow Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez grab his picture with it Credit: TWITTER
Messi shut down the prospect of international retirement Credit: REX
