Over 100,000 celebrate Champions League win with Messi on Facebook

(AFP PHOTO/ JOSEP LAGO)

Argentinean footballer Lionel (Leo) Messi scored against Manchester United on Saturday, May 28 as his team Barcelona went on to lift the UEFA Champions League Trophy. The player's feelings about the club's win and his celebrations on Facebook attracted over 100,000 "likes," 18,000 comments and over 100,000 new fans.

The footballer, generally considered the best in the world, is no stranger to attention on Facebook. The forward broke records when he gained seven million new fans seven hours after opening his Facebook account on April 6.

As Barcelona has progressed through the Champions League, beating among others Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk, Messi's Facebook popularity has continued to grow.

On Saturday, May 28, after beating Manchester United 3-1, Messi took to Facebook and posted in English and Spanish the comment "This is amazing! Another championship and my third! Thank God! Today is a very special day! Now I want to do the same with the National Team!"

As of 2pm GMT May 30, the comment had attracted 105,936 "likes" and 18,808 comments. Data from social media monitoring company Famecount shows that in 24 hours after the game the player attracted over 100,000 fans - increasing from around 14,620,000 on May 28 to 14,740,000 on May 29.

In contrast, Messi's opposite number Wayne Rooney did not say anything.

According to Famecount, Messi, now with a total of 14,941,581 fans, has the third most popular page on Facebook in the category of "sports person or team."

As of May 30 the sports person or team with the most fans is Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo (27,347,737 fans), followed by football club Barcelona (15,812,915 fans), then Messi, Manchester United (14,765,465 fans) and Real Madrid (14,478,068 fans).

Messi's Facebook page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/LeoMessi

Cristiano Ronaldo  - http://www.facebook.com/Cristiano
Barcelona - http://www.facebook.com/fcbarcelona
Manchester United- http://www.facebook.com/manchesterunited
Real Madrid- http://www.facebook.com/RealMadrid