20 years on from Messi and Yamal’s photo: bath to World Cup final | OneFootball

Football has stories that surpass any fiction. After the Argentina National Team qualified for the 2026 World Cup final, a photograph went viral again with renewed force—one that now carries a mystical and deeply symbolic aura: a Lionel Messi barely 20 years old, holding a newborn baby in his arms who, 19 years later, would become his direct rival in the match for the World Cup: Lamine Yamal.

The incredible image was taken in the Camp Nou dressing rooms in December 2007. It all came about thanks to a charity initiative by UNICEF, which held a raffle in the humble neighborhood of Rocafonda, in Mataró, so that one family could have photos taken with a Barcelona star. Fate would have it that the winners were Lamine’s parents. The person in charge of immortalizing the moment was Joan Monfort, a freelance photographer for the AP agency, who in an interview with The Athletic revealed the story behind the shot: “Messi was a very shy kid. The beginning was difficult because Leo didn’t even know how to hold the baby.”

From today’s perspective, the conceptual weight of the snapshot is striking. It is the exact record of the greatest player of all time, when he was still far from becoming that, interacting with the one who would turn into his great generational successor two decades later. What were the mathematical odds that that harmless baby would end up facing him in the final World Cup match of Messi’s career? Not only in life, but in football too, there definitely has to be something more.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.