Yes - the viral photo is real. Nineteen years before they meet as World Cup final opponents, Lionel Messi held Lamine Yamal in his arms as a five-month-old baby - and gave him a bath.
The now-viral photos date back to 2007, when a 20-year-old Messi, then just beginning his rise at FC Barcelona, posed for a charity calendar organized by Catalan newspaper Diario Sport in partnership with UNICEF. Freelance photographer Joan Monfort shot a series of images of Barça players with local children and their families. Yamal's family won the opportunity through a neighborhood raffle in Mataró, Spain. "Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he's shy," Monfort told the Associated Press. "He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it." Yamal's mother, Sheila Ebana, helped guide him through it.
The photos resurfaced when Yamal, now 19, emerged as one of Spain's brightest young stars - becoming the youngest player to ever appear in and score at a European Championship in 2024. This week, the connection came full circle: after Argentina beat England 2-1 and Spain defeated France 2-0, the two are now set to meet for the first time on a soccer pitch, in Sunday's World Cup final in New Jersey. Asked about the photo at a press conference, Yamal laughed it off. "Yes, I've grown a little and I think Leo has too," he said. "I hope it happens. I'd love to face Messi in a World Cup final."
It's the kind of coincidence no scriptwriter could invent - a charity photo taken to help a family in need becoming, two decades later, a chapter in the story of the sport's greatest stage. For Messi, playing in what is expected to be his final World Cup, and for Yamal, playing in his first, Sunday's meeting is a reminder that even the smallest, most ordinary moments can carry a purpose far beyond what anyone could see at the time.
