Lionel Messi has celebrated his latest social media milestone - 500million followers on Instagram - by thanking his fans on the platform, even though the Inter Miami star still trails Cristiano Ronaldo by 122million.
The 36-year-old Argentine is now the third most-followed Instagram account in the world behind Instagram's own brand account and Ronaldo. He beats third-place Selena Gomez by 71M followers.
'5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Million Thanks for always being there!!' he shared as a caption to a video of all of his posts shared over the last year on Instagram on Friday.
The 2022 World Cup winner reached new heights on social media after Inter Miami head coach Tata Martino warned that Messi is already showing signs of tiredness just two MLS games into the season.
To reduce the load on the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, the club has decided not to compete in this year's U.S. Open Cup, with just eight of MLS' 26 American teams willing to enter the competition.
Lionel Messi shared his social media milestone just a day before Inter Miami faces Orlando City
Houston beat Miami 2-1 in last year's final. Messi missed the game because of an injury.
He and his Inter Miami teammates will attempt to continue their undefeated start to the 2024 MLS season when they host Orlando City on Saturday.
Miami (1-0-1, 4 points) opened with a 2-0 home victory over Real Salt Lake on Feb. 21.
Messi is the third most-followed account on Instagram but trails Cristiano Ronaldo by 122M
The club followed that up with a dramatic 1-1 draw at the LA Galaxy last Sunday in which Messi scored an equalizer in second-half stoppage time.
Almost inevitably, Messi combined with former Barcelona teammate Jordi Alba to create a late tally.
'It's true that they dominated the first half, especially with the period in which Riqui Puig had the most amount of time with the ball and made the team play very well,' Miami manager Tata Martino said through an interpreter.
'But then we had the personality to continue searching, and we reached the tie, well, you could say with the genius of Leo.'