Iceland stunned Argentina in their first match of FIFA World Cup 2018 finals debut. The match ended in a 1-1 draw as Iceland defenders managed to keep forward Lionel Messi from scoring. Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson kept Messi at bay even when he got to play a penalty. But somehow, it was Iceland forward Rurik Gislason who became an overnight sensation on Instagram despite coming on the field as a substitution in the 63rd minute.
Gislason stole the limelight with his looks. He could not attempt a single shot but his swagger on the pitch impressed many. Before his debut appearance in FIFA World Cup 2018, he had 30,000 odd followers on Instagram which increased multi-fold after the clash against Argentina.
Here’s how Twitterati reacted to Gislason’s debut and to his increased popularity afterwards —
Imagine being sooooo good looking that your Instagram followers go from from 30,000 to 207,000 by playing 30 minutes at the World Cup. Take a bow, Rúrik Gíslason #fyririsland pic.twitter.com/Xr9uLRkoCk
— Sons of Ice and Fire (@sons_icefire) June 17, 2018
Public Service Announcement:
His name is Rurik Gislason.
I am moving to Iceland.
That is all. #WorldCup #ARGvICE #Iceland #thorisreal pic.twitter.com/awiMGVkqwQ— Soraya Lennie ثریا لنی (@soraya_lennie) June 16, 2018
I’d like to take a moment to thank Iceland for the view of Rúrik Gíslason.
You have done the world a great service pic.twitter.com/l08qKVtwJf— Erika,First of Her Name,Mother of Bats (@bahmboozle) June 16, 2018
Rooting for Iceland as the underdog for #FifaWorldCup2018. Hope they make it far.
Also, hi Rúrik Gíslason. pic.twitter.com/7baNdAm8xs
— (@lakwatsarah) June 15, 2018
today Rurik Gislason started the match against Argentina with 50k followers. Now he has almost 200k and his posts are full of comments in spanish. We have our reasons I guess pic.twitter.com/8NskyCvtz4
— Agus (@thatwasout) June 16, 2018
Rúrik Gíslason has 200k+ followers on Instagram since arriving in Moscow. Any clues why though?? pic.twitter.com/UjWEjoxDVQ
— Icelandic Football (@icelandfootball) June 17, 2018
Rurik Gislason! I once had a brief twitter exchange with him on here so I could totally set you guys up
— Katja (@applessquabble) June 16, 2018
Please let Rúrik Gíslason know that if he is also struggling with this I can eliminate the problem. https://t.co/Jmzzdz1Js0
— SA (@__SAGM) June 17, 2018
Please let Rúrik Gíslason know that if he is also struggling with this I can eliminate the problem. https://t.co/Jmzzdz1Js0
— SA (@__SAGM) June 17, 2018
The 30-year-old has 3,62,000 followers on Instagram now. Iceland will next play Nigeria and Croatia on June 22 and June 26 respectively. Currently, they are in the second position in Group D.
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Despite being a small country, the Iceland team have been able to pull off a few spectacular performances in the past as well. In UEFA Euro 2016, they did not let Cristiano Ronaldo score at all in the league match and drew against Portugal. They managed to get past the group stages and knocked out England out of the tournament in the Round of 16. They are arguably one of the most unpredictable sides of the tournament.
