When Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal walk onto the pitch for the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday, they will complete a remarkable full-circle story that began nearly two decades ago.
In 2007, a 20-year-old Messi posed for a UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) charity calendar with a five-month-old baby named Lamine Yamal, who had been born just months earlier.
Yamal’s family had won a raffle organised by UNICEF that offered the chance to be photographed with a Barcelona player for the 2008 charity calendar.
One of the now-famous photographs shows Messi helping Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, bathe the smiling infant in a blue plastic tub.
“The photographer, Joan Monfort, has said that Lamine Yamal stole Messi’s heart because he was always smiling,” UNICEF Catalunya’s Laia Ruich said on the organisation’s website.
Nearly 20 years later, the pair are preparing to meet on football’s biggest stage.
Yamal, the Barcelona teenage sensation who has often been compared with Messi, recently turned 19, while Argentina captain Messi, now 39, is set to play in his third World Cup final in what is widely expected to be his last appearance at the tournament.
“That photo is incredible,” Messi said during a fan event in Manhattan on Friday.
“I took a picture with him when he was a baby… the fact that we’re both playing in the World Cup now is crazy.”
Although Messi admitted he has a soft spot for Yamal because of their shared Barcelona connection, he insisted sentiment would play no role when Argentina face Spain.
“I wish him luck because his success will be Barcelona’s success, but we’ll try to keep him from playing at his best.
“He’s 19 years old and has his whole career ahead of him. I wish him the best, but we’ll give it our all to ensure he doesn’t become champion this time.”
Photographer Joan Monfort described the extraordinary journey from that UNICEF photo shoot to the World Cup final as “a true miracle of destiny.”
“If you wrote this in a film, it would not seem possible,” he told the BBC.
Spain midfielder Mikel Merino admitted he initially thought the viral photograph was generated by artificial intelligence.
“The first time I saw it, I thought it was AI and that it wasn’t even real,” Merino said.
“It’s unbelievable that two of the best players to have played the game — and hopefully Lamine, in the future, will be one of those — share a picture like that.”
Today, both Messi and Yamal serve as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors, continuing the partnership that first brought them together.
Reflecting on his own journey, Yamal said in June that football had given him hope and purpose as a child.
“Growing up, all I had was a family, a ball, a park and a dream,” he said.
“Playing football gave me structure, a sense of belonging, and hope for the future.
“I know how important it is for children to have a safe place to play, so that they can simply enjoy being children.”
AFP
