Lionel Messi addresses his iconic picture with Barcelona star Lamine Yamal – “Honestly, that photo is crazy…” | OneFootball

Few players in the history of FC Barcelona have achieved the kind of success that Lionel Messi has managed to claim. The Argentinian icon, formerly a hero for the Catalan club as well, continues to be a superstar of the sport even today at the age of 39 as he is set to play his third FIFA World Cup final.

However, his dream will be thwarted by none other than a Barça-led Spanish National team full of players from the club of his life. Leading the charge will be none other than 19-year-old Lamine Yamal, who has a rather surreal history with the Barcelona legend.

A crazy part of that history is a now-iconic picture that was taken when Messi was just around 20 years old and Yamal was not even a year old. Pictured bathing the child as part of a UNICEF campaign, it has now understandably gone even more viral than before ahead of the World Cup final clash between the two superstars.

Ahead of the final itself, Messi was asked about the picture by NFL icon Tom Brady with the footage being shared and translated by DAZN. During the conversation, Messi responded to Brady’s question about what the picture meant to him with a lot of praise for Yamal initially:

“Well, Lamine is a fantastic player whom I followed a lot because he plays for a club that I love and always wish the best for and well, he’s one of the world’s leading figures at just 19 years old. He has his whole career ahead of him, and he has a great opportunity to achieve something historic that we will try our best to make sure does not happen this time and that’s all, I just want to wish him the best.”

He then directly addressed the picture itself and how absurd the whole thing is in retrospect. Moreover, Messi also highlighted Yamal’s importance to both the sport and to Barça as well:

Finally, he concluded his statement by suggesting that Argentina will try to neutralise both Yamal and his Spanish teammates, making sure to give them their flowers as well:

“Well, we will try our best to play a good game so that he does not have his best version, although it is difficult. We will try for both him and Spain, which is not only about Lamine. They have great players who play well and we have our weapons too.”

For Barça fans all around the globe, this clash of giants between Argentina and Spain is the dream final that they could have hoped for. One way or another, they get to see either their biggest legend or the face of the club today lift football’s iconic trophy. Interestingly, even other players from the club recently praised Messi and the mutual respect between these players is genuinely amazing to see.