There’s a photo that’s been making the rounds online, and it’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and stare. It shows a 20-year-old Lionel Messi holding a six-month-old baby in his arms at Camp Nou. That baby is Lamine Yamal. Nineteen years later, they’ll meet on the pitch as opponents in the World Cup final.
The photo was taken in the fall of 2007 during a charity calendar shoot for FC Barcelona and UNICEF. Joan Monfort, a freelance photographer working for the Associated Press, captured the moment. Yamal’s family won a raffle organized by UNICEF in their neighborhood of Rocafonda in Mataro, and the prize was a photo with a Barcelona player at the stadium. Baby Yamal ended up in Messi’s arms. Some shots show Messi bathing the infant in a plastic tub alongside Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana.
Yamal’s rise since then has been absurdly fast. He came through Barcelona’s La Masia academy at a pace that surprised everyone, making his first-team debut at just 15 years old. He’s now the youngest nominee in Ballon d’Or history and one of the most watched young players in the sport. A lot of people already see him as Messi’s heir at Barcelona.
Argentina booked their spot in Sunday’s final with a 2-1 comeback win over England. Spain got there by beating France. So now two Barcelona icons, separated by two decades, will share a pitch for the first time. And it’s the biggest match in the sport.
The stakes are enormous. Messi has a chance to lead Argentina to a second straight World Cup title. No nation has pulled that off since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Yamal gets a shot at beating the guy who once held him as a baby, on the sport’s brightest stage, and doing it to bring Spain its second world title.
Whatever happens on Sunday, that photo already tells its own story. Two generations of Barcelona greatness, crossing paths long before either knew what the other would become.
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