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Ronaldo beats Messi as Instagram's most powerful player; Gavi the breakthrough star

When the World Cup kicks off in two months, it seems certain that Portugal and Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo will head into the tournament as the most powerful player in the world -- at least in terms of his social media influence.

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Ronaldo beat archrival Lionel Messi to top a list collated by sport media analysts Nielsen Gracenote, which assessed the Instagram followings of all of the top players and teams set to take part in Qatar to discover who has the most online muscle.