From Messi’s Arms to the World Cup Final: The Extraordinary Story of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal

Paris: In one of football’s most remarkable stories of destiny, Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Spain’s Lamine Yamal are set to face each other in the FIFA World Cup final—a meeting that began nearly two decades ago when Messi held the future star in his arms as a baby.

The two football icons, separated by 20 years in age, will take center stage in Sunday’s World Cup final. Messi, now 39, is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in football history, while 19-year-old Yamal is considered one of the sport’s brightest young talents and a potential heir to Messi’s legacy.

However, this will not be their first encounter.

Their story dates back to 2007 when a 20-year-old Messi, who had recently become a regular player for Barcelona’s first team, participated in a charity photo shoot organized by a Catalan newspaper in collaboration with UNICEF and Barcelona’s shirt sponsor. Five-month-old Lamine Yamal was selected through a raffle to take part in the event.

Photographer Joan Monfort captured the now-famous images of Messi smiling as he held and bathed baby Yamal. The photographs resurfaced in 2024 after Yamal played a key role in Spain’s UEFA Euro triumph, when his father shared one of the images online with the caption, “The beginning of two legends.”

Speaking about the unforgettable photo shoot, Monfort described it as “a miracle of destiny.”

“Even if someone wrote this story for a movie, it would seem impossible,” he said. “Messi was shy and didn’t know what to do when he was suddenly asked to pose with a baby. But he quickly adapted and remained professional throughout.”

Lamine Yamal was born to Moroccan-born Munir Nasraoui and Equatorial Guinean Sheila Ebana, who settled in Catalonia as children. Raised in Rocafonda, a working-class neighborhood near Barcelona, Yamal has often celebrated goals by making the numbers “304” with his fingers—a tribute to his neighborhood’s postal code.

Yamal has repeatedly expressed gratitude to his parents for supporting his football dream despite financial hardships.

“If you don’t have money, it’s very difficult to help your child play football,” Yamal said in an earlier interview. “My parents made it possible. I will never be able to repay them for what they have done for me.”

The young Spaniard’s rise has been extraordinary. By the age of 19, he has already scored 56 goals and won multiple major trophies, including La Liga titles, the Copa del Rey, and UEFA Euro 2024. In contrast, Messi had scored 11 goals and won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League by the same age.

For photographer Joan Monfort, seeing Messi and Yamal face one another in the World Cup final feels like the perfect conclusion to a story that began nearly 20 years ago.

“My heart is split in two,” Monfort admitted. “As a Barcelona supporter, I would love to see Messi end his career by winning another World Cup. But Lamine is in outstanding form and has a brilliant future ahead of him. Watching them meet on football’s biggest stage is something truly special.”

From a charity photo shoot in Barcelona to the grandest stage in world football, the story of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal has become one of the sport’s most extraordinary tales of fate, talent, and legacy.