Stranger than fiction: Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamar set to reach FIFA World Cup final 19 years after first meeting
Some stories are too incredible to be written down. However, football has produced one. nineteen years later Lionel Messi Meeting Lamine Yamal for the first time was at a charity shoot in Barcelona, where the pair would line up opposite each other in the World Cup final. Argentina and Spain will battle for football’s biggest prize at New York’s New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, turning an unforgettable photo into one of the sport’s greatest all-round moments. Back in 2007, Messi was already a Barcelona star. Yamal was just a baby. Photographer Joan Monfort captured Messi bathing baby Yamal in a plastic bucket during a charity calendar shoot organized by Sport and Unicef. At the time, it was just another assignment.No one thought that the baby in Messi’s arms would grow up to become Spain’s biggest football star.The journey since then has been extraordinary. Messi became one of the greatest players in football history before being forced to leave Barcelona in 2021 due to the club’s financial problems. Just two years later, Yamal emerged at the same club as Barcelona’s next global superstar.Now, the story has come full circle. The 19-year-old Yamal will face the 20-year-old Messi in the most important game in football.
Like a coincidence of fate
The famous photos were largely forgotten until Yamal’s father shared a photo on social media during Euro 2024, when the teenager led Spain to the title. The photo went viral and has once again become one of the most talked about photos in football ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final.Photographer Joan Monfort admits that even he would have a hard time explaining how it all unfolded.“I never believed anything was destined to happen, but I started to have doubts. It was beyond all reasonable explanation,” Monfort told The Associated Press at his home in Barcelona on Friday.Monfort took the photos in 2007 as part of a charity calendar. Yamal’s mother won a raffle involving families in Mataro, near Barcelona, and her child was paired with Messi by chance.
“Better than any movie script”
With Messi and Yamal now preparing to meet in the World Cup final, interest in the iconic images has exploded again.“It’s a thing that’s made a splash around the world and the fact that the final is being held in the United States gives it an extra boost,” Monfort said. “Now it culminates in the final between Messi and Yamal. It’s better than any movie script.”The Barcelona-based photographer said media organizations around the world had requested the photos, which were also shared widely on social media without attribution.
It’s a tough choice for Barcelona fans
For Monfort, Sunday’s final was an emotional one. Like many Barcelona fans, he feels a connection with 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 these two players are so important to him.“I have an undying love for the best player of all time (Messi),” he said, but “Yamal breaks the mold here” and represents a new, diverse Spain, thanks to his parents from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. “Maybe they can both win. After everything we’ve seen, I wouldn’t rule it out.”From a charity photoshoot in Barcelona to world football’s biggest stage, Messi and Yamal’s journey is the kind of story that’s stranger than fiction. On Sunday, its final chapter will be played at the New York-New Jersey Coliseum.
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