Cristiano Ronaldo is among the most mentioned players at Fifa World Cup 2018 in Russia and his stunning free-kick against Spain on Saturday is the most-talked-about moment during the first round of action, Twitter data reveals.
Ronaldo sent the football fraternity into a tizzy with his hat-trick against Spain on Saturday, June 15. The Real Madrid star, carrying the burden of expectations of an entire nation and the millions of his fans, delivered when it mattered the most.
After putting Portugal ahead twice in their Group B opener against Spain, Ronaldo and Portugal experienced a few nervy moments towards the end as the La Roja were holding to their one-goal lead after Nacho's powerful strike at around the hour mark.
Ronaldo earned a free-kick just outside the box in the 88th minute and he made the best use of it by lifting the ball above the Spanish wall and curling it into the top corner. The stunning equaliser left the football fraternity awestruck.
Eventually, the goal triggered a tweet rush as Twitter saw a massive spike in the number of tweets that were put out in the minute after the wonder goal.
Japan's sensational 2-1 win over Colombia on June 19 also evoked similar frenzy on Twitter while Mexico's upset win over Germany on June 17 occupies the third spot on "peak moments" on Twitter.
Philippe Coutinho's wonder goal in Brazil's 1-1 draw against Switzerland and Yuya Osako's historic winning goal against Colombia were the other trending moments on Twitter.
Check out the 'Peak Moments' graph below (Source: Twitter India)
Top players on Twitter after first-round matches
While Ronaldo occupies the numero uno position when it comes to top players on the social media platform between June 14 and 19, Neymar and Lionel Messi, despite their below-par showings, aren't far behind.
England captain Harry Kane, who scored a double to help his team beat Tunisia in their opening game, Coutinho and French striker Antoine Griezmann also feature in the list.
