LIONEL MESSI is not letting the World Cup trophy out of his sight.
The Argentina superstar even took the glittering gong to bed with him after a triumphant return to Buenos Aires.
Messi and Co were given a hero’s welcome after stepping off the plane back from Qatar.
Thousands lined the streets of the capital despite the squad not landing until 2am local time on Tuesday.
They partied on an open top bus after touching down, with Messi and four of his team-mates nearly wiped out by street cable.
When the 35-year-old finally did get to bed, he decided to take the World Cup trophy with him.
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He woke up with the trophy still there, while rival Cristiano Ronaldo woke up unemployed as he continues to ponder his next career move.
Messi took to Instagram on Tuesday to upload snaps of himself cuddling up next to it under the covers.
He captioned his post: “Good morning.”
And wife Antonela Roccuzzo might have a job on her hands trying to wrestle the trophy out of his bed.
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One snap showed Messi lying with his arm around it, while in another he cradled the trophy as he sipped on mate tea, a South American speciality.
The upload could turn out be another record breaker for Messi.
He now holds the record for the most-liked picture ever on Instagram after overtaking ‘The Egg’ on over 57m likes with pictures from Sunday’s World Cup final triumph.
But his post in bed with the trophy was liked over 10.6m times in less than an hour.
Messi scored twice in the final as Argentina beat France on penalties after a thrilling game ended 3-3.
He then recreated Diego Maradona’s iconic trophy lift as he led Argentina to a first World Cup triumph since 1986.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
