Some stories are too unbelievable to write. However, football has made one. Nineteen years ago Lionel Messi first met Lamine Yamal during a charity photoshoot in Barcelona, the two will stand on opposite sides of the FIFA World Cup final. Argentina and Spain will battle for football’s biggest prize this Sunday at the New York New Jersey Stadium, making for an unforgettable picture that will be one of the greatest moments in the entire circle of the game. Back in 2007, Messi was already a star in Barcelona. Yamal is still young. During a charity calendar shoot organized by Sport newspaper and UNICEF, photographer Joan Monfort captured Messi bathing baby Yamal in a plastic tub. At that time, it was just an assignment.No one could have imagined that the baby in Messi’s arms would grow up to become Spain’s biggest football star.The journey since then has been amazing. Messi became one of the greatest players in football history before leaving Barcelona in 2021 after the club’s financial problems forced his exit. 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 older, in the biggest game in football.
A coincidence that felt like fate
The famous photos remained 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 once again become one of football’s most talked about photos.Photographer Joan Monfort admits that even she has a hard time explaining how it all happened.“I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to happen, but I began to doubt. This is beyond all reasonable explanations,” said Monfort to The Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday.Monfort took the photos in 2007 as part of a love calendar. Yamal’s mother won a raffle for families from Mataró, near Barcelona,
“Better than any movie script”
With Messi and Yamal getting ready to meet in a World Cup final, interest in iconic images has exploded again.“It’s blowing up all over the world, and the fact that the end is in the US gives it an extra push,” Monfort said. “And now it finally ends between Messi and Yamal. It’s better than any movie script.”The Barcelona-based photographer said media organizations around the world requested the images, while they were widely shared on social media without credit.
A difficult choice for a Barcelona fan
For Monfort, Sunday’s final was emotional. Like many Barcelona supporters, he feels connected to both players.“My heart is divided. I don’t know if I want Messi or Yamal to win,” said Monfort, a lifelong Barcelona supporter.He explained why the two players are so important to him.“I have an eternal love for the best player of all time (Messi),” he said, but “Yamal broke the mold here” and represents a new, different Spain, thanks to his parents from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. “Maybe both of them will win. I wouldn’t rule it out after everything we have seen.”From a charity photoshoot in Barcelona to the biggest football stage in the world, Messi and Yamal’s journey is the kind of story that feels less weird than fiction. On Sunday, it will have a final chapter at the New York New Jersey Stadium.