Sunday night (15 June) saw a very large number of people across the globe glued to their televisions and computer screens as two exciting battles unfolded: one in Rio de Janeiro, while the other in Westeros.
Social media was, as usual, abuzz with the latest from both camps. While the Argentina vs. Bosnia match trumped the Game of Thrones finale in terms of sheer volume of tweets, Lionel Messi’s first World Cup goal in 8 years ensured that he was bigger than either, with the terms “Messi” and “#Messi” alone netting more mentions than terms related to the match and those related to Game of Thrones combined. Messi’s left-footed stunner from just outside the box generated a staggering 236,174 tweets per minute..Defender Sead Kolasinac’s 3rd minute own goal in Rio saw him claim the top-spot among the Bosnians. It must be mentioned, though, that several Argentinians including Angel di Maria, Sergio Aguero, Gonazalo Higuain still managed to be ahead of Kolasinac.
While Messi earned plaudits for his stellar performance in Rio, Tyrion Lannister was crowned Man of the Match in Westeros. The Lannister family drama garnered the most attention in the finale, with Tywin Lannister finishing second behind son Tyrion. Arya Stark’s apparent coming-of-age was also a major talking point, and this earned her a podium finish behind Tywin.
