Northampton photographer's iconic picture of World Cup winning Lionel Messi becomes the most liked Instagram post ever

A Northampton photographer's iconic picture of Lionel Messi holding the World Cup has become the most liked on Instagram.

Messi chose the photo as part of his World Cup winning Instagram post which has, at the time of writing (December 27), been 'liked' 73 million times.

Argentina defeated France on penalties in what was an exhilarating final with an iconic picture, captured by Shaun Botterill from Weston Favell.

Shaun, who was working at the World Cup for Getty Images, said he “had a plan but needed a fair amount of luck” to get the shot.

He pictured Messi holding the World Cup aloft on top of Sergio Aguero's shoulders while singing to thousands of Argentinian fans.

The 55-year-old said: "Once I saw him get hold of the trophy I made my way behind that goal, right in the middle, and waited to see what happened. You have a plan but you also need a fair amount of luck.

"It was quite a pushy, shovey crowded situation and then it's just like, Jesus Christ he's there in front of me! It was when he first went crazy, singing to the fans and responding to them.

"It was madness. I remember looking up through the camera and thinking you hope this sort of thing happens in front of you."

Realising he had the shot, Shaun sent it back to his son at the Getty Images offices in London for it to be edited and distributed.

The photo went live on Messi's Instagram later that day (December 18), but Shaun only heard about it when he got back to England the following day.

He said: "The first I heard about it was when I got off the plane on Monday, the day after.

"One of my colleagues messaged saying, 'you're kind of popular on the internet'. I'm not on social media. I didn't have a clue until he sent me a screengrab.

"It's a lot of people, isn't it. My boys think it's hilarious. I think the funniest thing is that I've beaten an egg."

The egg picture mentioned by Shaun was the previous most liked post on Instagram, which was part of a successful plan to topple Kylie Jenner's post from top spot.

Reflecting on the picture and the reaction, Shaun said it is “hard to sink in”.

He said: "What amazes me is it makes you realise how big football is and Lionel Messi is. It's pretty crazy. The numbers are hard to sink in.

"He's won the world cup, the joy on his face, and the colours of Argentina. It's bang in your face. It tells the story."

Shaun's first ever published photo was in the Chronicle and Echo in 1982, when he was a 15-year-old lad trying to break into the industry.

His dad took him to a 10-mile cycling time trial race in Kettering where he snapped the winner and had it published in the Chron.

Shaun said: “It was the Kettering 10-mile cycling time trial. I had a photograph of the winner. I remember dropping the print in and hoping it would get used. I've still got the cut out. In a funny kind of way, you get the same sort of buzz."