3 min readUpdated: Jul 18, 2026 09:46 AM IST
The cinematic sub-plot in Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final featuring Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal feels too good to be true, even for the Argentina superstar.
For the first time since their iconic photograph together from almost two decades ago went viral in 2024, Messi spoke about meeting young Yamal, whom he bathed for a promotional charity photo shoot in late 2007. Neither of them knew, in that fleeting moment, that the world would one day look back at the image and see the beginning of something extraordinary.
A 20-year-old Lionel Messi, with a shy smile and a head of untamed curls, held a six-month-old Yamal in a blue plastic bathtub for a photo taken by freelancer Joan Monfort.
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“That picture with Lamine, now we are facing in a final after a photo was taken of when he was a baby,” Messi told seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady in an interaction on Friday. “It’s just insane.”
“But he’s one of the best in the world right now,” Messi said of the 19-year-old who took over his iconic No. 10 shirt at FC Barcelona.
“Lamine is a fantastic player, whom I followed closely because he plays for a club I love and always wish the best for. He’s a global icon at just 19 years old, with his whole career ahead of him. He has a great opportunity to achieve something historic, and we’ll try our best to make sure it’s not this time . I wish him all the best; honestly, that photo is crazy because it’s life ,” Messi said.
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“I wish him the best of luck because what’s good for him is good for Barcelona too, and well, we’ll try to play a good game so he doesn’t have his best, although it’s difficult, we’ll try. He, like Spain, has some great players and a great style of play. We have our own strengths too ,” he concluded.
Yamal earned the No. 10 jersey at Barcelona after a stellar campaign where he netted 18 goals and provided 25 assists as they swept the domestic treble of LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup and reached the Champions League semi-finals last year. Like a teenaged Messi, Yamal too had already committed his long-term future with the Spanish giants, signing a contract extension that will keep him at Barcelona until 2031.
