Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – June 30, 2013 – Estadio do Maracana: Neymar (10) of the Brazil Men’s National Soccer Team during the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup Final
(Photo by Scott Clarke / ESPN Images)
Golden State Warriors small forward Kevin Durant might have stolen the show on the hardwood during the NBA Finals, winning MVP honors along with his first World Championship, but it was global soccer icon and Barcelona forward Neymar, Jr. who captured everyone’s attention on Instagram.
During the Finals, both the most ‘liked’ photo and video — via the official FC Barcelona account — featured the Brazilian star.
The below image of Neymar appearing at the NBA Finals a week ago has received over 609,000 “likes” and nearly 1,000 comments to date.
The No. 3 and No. 5 most ‘Liked’ photos also pictured Neymar, with the former also including New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. and British Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton while the latter was a still shot with the foot taller Durant.
More than 1.6 million people viewed the below most “liked” video, which is a repost of the NBA’s that ranked No. 4.
It highlighted Neymar saying “hey” to Durant and Warriors forward Draymond Green following Game 2 in the Bay Area. Neymar was also seen gifting FC Barcelona jerseys to both players and posing for photos.
Over the five-game series, 32 million people had 242 million interactions on Instagram related to the NBA Finals. Despite this year’s Finals being cut short by two games, it had more than 50 million interactions across the social platform compared to the seven-game series last June.
Considering Neymar hails from Brazil, it’s arguably not a surprise to see the country was the No. 2 most-engaging country on Instagram throughout the NBA Finals.
