Some stories are too incredible to be written. However, football produced one. Nineteen years later Lionel Messi First meeting Lamine Yamal during a charity photo session in Barcelona, Argentina and Spain will battle for football’s biggest prize on Sunday at the New York New Jersey Stadium, turning an unforgettable photo into one of the biggest sporting moments around. In 2007, Messi was already a star of Barcelona. Yamal was just a child. During a charity calendar shoot organized by Sport newspaper and UNICEF, photographer Joan Monfort captured Messi bathing baby Yamal in a plastic tub. At the time, it was just another mission.No one could have imagined that the baby in Messi’s arms would grow up to become Spain’s biggest soccer star.The journey since then has been remarkable. Messi became one of the greatest players in football history before leaving Barcelona in 2021 after the club’s financial problems forced him to leave. Just two years later, Yamal burst onto the scene at the same club, becoming Barcelona’s next global superstar.Now, the story has come full circle. The 19-year-old Yamal will face Messi, who is 20 years his senior, in football’s biggest match.
A coincidence that feels like fate
The famous photos were largely forgotten until Yamal’s father shared one on social media during Euro 2024, when the teenager led Spain to the title. The image quickly went viral, and ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final, it has become one of the most talked about photos in football.Photographer Joan Monfort also admitted that he has difficulty explaining how it all unfolded.“I have never been a believer or thought that something was destined to happen, but I began to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations,” Monfort told The Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday.Monfort had taken the pictures in 2007 as part of a charity calendar. Yamal’s mother had won a raffle for the families of Mataró, near Barcelona,to participate, and by chance her child was associated with Messi.
“Better than any movie script”
With Messi and Yamal now preparing to meet in a World Cup final, interest in the iconic image has exploded once again.“This has exploded all over the world, and the fact that the final is in the United States has given it the extra push,” Monfort said. “And now this has culminated with the final between Messi and Yamal. It’s better than any movie script.”The Barcelona-based photographer said media organizations around the world have requested the images, while they have also been widely shared on social media without credit.
A difficult choice for a Barcelona fan
For Monfort, Sunday’s final is emotional. Like many Barcelona supporters, he feels connected to both players.“My heart is broken. I don’t know if I want Messi or Yamal to win,” said Monfort, a lifelong Barcelona supporter.I explained why both players mean so much to him.“I have eternal love for the best player of all time (Messi),” he said, but “Yamal has broken the mold here” and represents a new and different Spain, thanks to his parents from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. “Maybe they can win both. I don’t rule it out after everything we’ve seen.”From a charity photoshoot in Barcelona to world football’s biggest stage, Messi and Yamal’s journey is the kind of story that feels stranger than fiction. On Sunday, it will have a final chapter at the New York New Jersey Stadium.