World Cup 2014: Germany vs Argentina breaks new Facebook and Twitter records

Final whistle and Lionel Messi free-kick sparked frenzied activity

Mario Gotze kisses the World Cup, Angela Merkel poses with Lukas Podolski, and Lionel Messi walks off the stage after Argentina's defeat (Getty Images/Twitter)

Last night's World Cup final between Germany and Argentina broke new records on the social media platforms Twitter and Facebook.

There were an incredible 618,725 Tweets per minute about the match at the Maracana at the final whistle - the highest figure Twitter has ever seen during any event. The previous record was 580,166, set during Brazil's 7-1 humiliation in the semi-finals.

Despite last night's game being the crowning moment of what has been a truly memorable tournament, it failed to become the become the most Tweeted about sporting event - the 7-1 win for Germany against the hosts manages to hold onto that particular record. Last night's game generated a total of 32.1 million Tweets, fewer than the 35.6 million for the shocking mauling last Tuesday.

Unsurprisingly Mario Gotze was the most mentioned Germany player thanks to his winning goal. Manuel Neuer and Christoph Kramer were the second and third in terms of Germans respectively. Rather predictably Lionel Messi was the most talked about Argentinian player.

Facebook have also revealed that the final in Rio de Janeiro was the biggest sporting event in the site's history. There were 280 million interactions during the game, breaking the previous record of 245 million held by the 2013 Super Bowl.

Data released by the social media site showed those 280 million interactions came from 88 million people. The figures appeared to show that interest in the World Cup had not subsided in the United States despite their team's exit with 10.5 million of those coming from there. 10 million people interacted in Brazil, seven million in Argentina and five million in Germany.

Again, Gotze and Messi were the most talked about players from each side.

Facebook revealed that while the final whistle and Gotze's goal were the most talked about moments, Messi's free-kick that flew over the bar at the death of extra-time was the third.