A celebrated soccer image is being viewed through an entirely new lens.
With Argentina and Spain set to meet in Sunday’s much-anticipated FIFA World Cup Final, an old photograph of Lionel Messi with Lamine Yamal has reemerged online, turning into a powerful symbol of soccer’s next-generation storyline.
The picture began circulating widely after Argentina’s win over England on Wednesday. It shows Messi, already on his path to becoming an Argentine football icon, alongside Spain’s rising star Yamal when he was still a baby. In the now-viral image, Messi appears to be bathing the infant Yamal.
Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, previously posted a behind-the-scenes image from what appears to be the same memorable photo shoot on Instagram in 2024.
The original photograph was taken by Joan Monfort in 2007 for a UNICEF charity calendar created in partnership with the FC Barcelona Foundation. Released in 2008, the calendar directed 50% of its sales toward initiatives supporting and protecting children’s rights.
Messi was not the only major Barcelona name involved. The project also featured football stars including Xavi Hernández, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto’o.
Monfort told ESPN in 2024 that every month in the calendar paired a footballer with a child from Catalonia, Spain. Families were able to enter their children into a draw for the chance to take part.
“The objective was to give visibility to a series of social problems faced by kids and their families,” Monfort told ESPN. “It was coming up to Christmas, and we wanted to transmit humanity, both through the kids and the players. We tried to find a way of them interacting, laughing, as relaxed as possible.”
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The photographer said that Messi and Yamal were photographed for the month of January. Monfort said it was his idea to photograph Messi bathing baby Yamal, saying he thought it would be a good way for them to interact. He added that Yamal’s mother helped with the process to get the shots.
The photograph was long forgotten until Nasraoui shared it on Instagram in July 2024.
“The beginning of two legends ❤️,” he captioned the post at the time.
Yamal’s path to fame has been remarkably similar to Messi’s in the years since the photograph was taken: He came up through FC Barcelona’s famed youth academy, La Masia, before breaking into the club’s first team as a teenager. Both are also left-footed forwards who began their careers at an unusually young age.
In December 2024, when Messi was asked by a reporter about which football player reminded him of himself, Messi replied, “If I have to choose someone, because of the age and because of the future that he has, I’ve heard that they have chosen Lamine Yamal — and without doubt, [it’s him] for me too.”
“He’s the present and without a doubt has a huge future,” he added at the time.
Nearly two decades after their charity photoshoot, Messi and Yamal will meet on soccer’s biggest stage as Spain faces Argentina in Sunday’s FIFA World Cup Final.
While they have succeeded in each of their rounds throughout the tournament, there is no public record of Messi and Yamal meeting since the photoshoot, making Sunday’s final a potential reunion decades in the making.
Ahead of the match, Yamal told a reporter, “I’d love to face Messi in a World Cup final.”
Whether or not the match marks Messi’s final World Cup appearance remains to be seen. For many fans, it represents more than just a battle for soccer’s biggest prize, bringing together two players linked by one unforgettable photograph — one who has defined his generation and another who could define the next.
The FIFA World Cup Final will take place Sunday, July 19, at 3 p.m. ET at New York-New Jersey Stadium.
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