Defending champion Argentina booked their place in the FIFA World Cup final against European champion Spain with their 2-1 win over England, setting up a clash between Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal.
Barcelona's Yamal, 19, and the club's all-time top scorer Messi, 39, will meet on the pitch for the first time in Sunday's match in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but it's not the first time they have met. It's unlikely Yamal will remember his initial encounter with the GOAT, because it happened when he was still a baby and Messi was a 20-year-old rising star.
It sounds improbable, but there is evidence thanks to a batch of photographs from an event that resurfaced online two years ago as Yamal starred in Spain's victorious UEFA European Championship campaign, and now hold new significance ahead of his reunion with Messi in the biggest soccer match of all.
The photos show Yamal as an infant being bathed by Messi, who was just beginning his own ascent to greatness at the time. A crop of one of the photos was posted on Instagram by Yamal's father, Mounir Nasraoui, along with the caption: "The beginning of two legends."
It was freelance photographer Joan Monfort who shot a series of images of various Barça players posing with children and their families as part of a charity calendar organized by Catalan newspaper Diario Sport in conjunction with UNICEF.
"We made the calendar with the help of UNICEF," Monfort told The Associated Press in 2024. "So UNICEF did a raffle in the neighborhood of Roca Fonda in Mataró, where Lamine's family lived. They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won the raffle."
Yamal and his mother, Sheila Ebana, were joined by Messi in the visitors locker room at Camp Nou in the fall of 2007. Little did anybody involved realize that a footballing torch might have also been passed at the same time, despite the awkward atmosphere.
"The stars aligned when Lamine met Messi, but it was very difficult," Monfort said. "Messi is very introverted and shy. He entered the changing room to find a plastic bathtub filled with water and a baby inside. In the beginning he did not know how to hold [Yamal]."
Monfort added he was delighted to have one of his photographs make such an impact so many years after it was taken.
"It's very exciting to be associated with something that has caused such a sensation," he said. "To tell you the truth, it's a very nice feeling."
The encounter might well have been awkward, but it meant that the young Yamal had a literal brush with greatness that preceded his meteoric rise.
Since making his debut for Barça at the age of 15 years, 9 months and 16 days old, Yamal has already won three LaLiga titles as well as that Euro 2024 triumph with Spain. He established himself as one of the best players in the world long before he turned 19 years of age Monday.
Though he might be seen by many as Messi's heir apparent, he has a ways to go to match the achievements of the the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner many consider the greatest player ever.
Beating him in a World Cup final would be a good place to start.
