Elon Musk with Lakshmi Mittal in viral pic from FIFA World Cup final

Elon Musk and Lakshmi Mittal attended the FIFA World Cup 2022 final in Qatar (Image: MaitanovAzamat/Twitter)

Elon Musk was photographed with Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal at the FIFA World Cup 2022 final in Qatar on Sunday.

The Tesla billionaire was seen standing next to Lakshmi Mittal, 72, in the stands during the Argentina vs France football match at Lusail stadium in Qatar. Also seen in the now-viral photograph was Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Elon Musk and Lakshmi Mittal at the final match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/oAn6n0ThNc

— Azamat Maitanov (@MaitanovAzamat) December 19, 2022

Elon Musk and Lakshmi Mittal, the UK-based executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, are among a large number of high-profile spectators spotted at the world cup final, which was watched by billions across the world. Jared Kushner has also been spotted at other World Cup matches, while Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, David Beckham and Novak Djokovic were among the other celebrities who attended the final.

Musk, 51, live-tweeted through the nail-biting match, beginning with a tweet checking into the stadium for the final. “At World Cup right now,” he announced.

At World Cup right now pic.twitter.com/CG7zMMxSjE — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

His video of Argentina’s “great goal” was watched by more than 9 million people on Twitter, while other videos shared by the Twitter boss also drew millions of viewers.

Great goal by Argentina! pic.twitter.com/WIs9ocfPcz — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

Musk’s surprise appearance at the Qatar World Cup and his tweets announcing his location raised eyebrows, given that the Twitter boss had only recently banned several journalists from the microblogging platform for “doxxing real-time location info.”

Musk on Thursday suspended the Twitter accounts of several journalists who shared links to the @ElonJet account which used to track his private jet using publicly-available information.

The suspension was lifted following a 24-hour poll in which the majority voted in favour of restoring the accounts immediately.