Lionel Messi talks about ‘crazy’ Lamine Yamal baby photos before they meet in World Cup final

You may now be familiar with the absolutely remarkable story of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal’s first meeting.

Messi helped bathe a five-month-old Yamal as part of a charity photoshoot at Barcelona back in December 2007. It is such an extraordinary coincidence that it scarcely feels believable — even with the photographic evidence.

On Sunday, the pair will finally meet again — for the first ever time on a football pitch — in the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina.

Messi is now 39. In what is widely expected to be his last game on this global stage, he has a chance to add a fourth World Cup winner’s star to Argentina’s jersey.

Yamal, 19, is Spain’s biggest name and, like Messi, is capable of inspiring his national team to what would be a second title. In the years since their first encounter, he has also emerged as perhaps the closest possible heir to Messi’s legend at Barcelona.

The whole thing is just extraordinary, and it has become a big part of the global conversation around Sunday’s match.

“Honestly, that photo of us is crazy, because — well, that’s life, right? I took a photo with him as a baby, and here we both are, facing off in a World Cup,” said Messi on Friday in New York.

“Lamine is a huge talent, someone I’ve followed a lot because he plays for a club I love and I always wish him the best, I always want the best for him. And, well, he’s one of the world’s benchmark players at 19 years old, and he has his whole career ahead of him. He has a great opportunity to achieve something historic, which we’ll try our hardest to make sure doesn’t happen this time. I just want to wish him the best.

“It’s crazy. He’s one of the best in the world right now, no doubt about it. And I wish him a lot of luck, because what’s good for him will also be good for Barcelona.”

The probability of Messi and Yamal appearing in the photos together, and then meeting in a World Cup final, has been widely debated on social media.

Some estimates have put the chances somewhere in the one in 48billion ballpark. All we can say for sure is that it’s incredibly unlikely. But it’s happening.

The photos re-emerged during the European Championship of 2024, after Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, posted them online.

“Life has these coincidences,” Nasraoui told newspaper Mundo Deportivo as Spain prepared for the July 14 final against England, which they won 2-1, the day after Yamal’s 17th birthday.

Some people’s reading of the photo suggested Messi was somehow ordaining his future successor with a blessed talent that was now coming good. Yamal’s dad suggested it could actually have been the other way around.

“Maybe Lamine was giving it to Leo, I don’t know,” Nasraoui said. “For me, my son is the best. In everything.”

The photographer who took the shots explained in a 2024 interview with The Athletic how it all came about. It was for a charity calendar Barcelona used to produce each year in partnership with UNICEF and others, including local newspaper Diario Sport.

Joan Monfort said he “sweated blood to take it” because Messi, then 20, was “shy” and, having been partnered with Yamal, “found himself with a tiny baby in a plastic bath full of water”.

He added: “At the start, there was not much interaction. But, bit by bit, it started to happen and in the end, it’s a pretty good photo.

“Back then, nobody could imagine that this baby would be who he is now — and you could not have known that Messi would become who he became, either.

“We are talking about 2007. Messi was only beginning at Barca. Destiny plays an important role in these things.

“The chances of all this happening was like winning the lottery, although it’s not sorted me out financially for life.”

It also feels remarkable that, given the many parallels and similarities in how their lives progressed from that point, they have not met more regularly since.

For a while now, fate has seemed to be keeping Yamal and Messi apart.

Messi was a prodigy who moved from his childhood home in Rosario, Argentina, to join Barca’s La Masia youth academy aged 13. He went on to score 709 goals in 837 games for the first team, winning multiple trophies including four Champions Leagues and 10 La Liga titles before leaving in 2021.

Yamal was born in Barcelona and raised in Mataro, about 20 miles up the coast. By the age of six he had joined Barca’s youth system, and at 12 he moved down to the city and into the Catalan club’s academy permanently.

There is one photo that shows Yamal and Messi, now with Inter Miami, together around that time, a chance meeting as they crossed paths near the training ground. They are not believed to have met since.

The Athletic consulted sources close to both players for this article and neither side (speaking anonymously as they did not have permission to comment) considered this unusual, given they live on different continents and have extremely busy schedules.

As Yamal’s exceptional talent began to emerge (he made his Barcelona debut aged 15 in April 2023), Adidas made their move to sponsor him. This included a video message from Messi, already on the kit manufacturer’s books. It worked, but the pair did not physically meet.

Circumstances have also meant that Messi and Yamal have not coincided at any of the big awards ceremonies for football’s individual prizes.

Yamal did, however, meet with Brazilian former Barcelona star Neymar at the Globe Soccer Awards held in Dubai in December 2024, and there was an instant connection.

Neymar, who played for Barca from 2013 to 2017, was Yamal’s favourite player. Growing up, he would study YouTube videos of the Brazilian’s tricks and then reproduce them.

After their meeting in Dubai, Yamal and Neymar kept in regular contact. Last summer, Yamal spent time at the Brazilian’s personal resort in Rio de Janeiro during his holidays. People who know Yamal well say this connection makes sense, given he is closer in personality to the more extroverted Neymar than the quite reserved Messi.

Messi and Yamal looked set to come together when European champions Spain and Copa America holders Argentina were due to meet in a Finalissima exhibition game in Qatar in March.

But the conflict between Iran and the United States and Israel saw that game cancelled at short notice. At the World Cup, FIFA’s new seeding system meant Spain and Argentina could only meet in the final if both sides topped their groups.

When Yamal was given Barcelona’s No 10 shirt in July last year, there was no connection or collaboration between the two. That is at least partly due to the complicated relationship Messi has with Barca’s leadership over the nature of his abrupt 2021 exit.

After Messi left, the No 10 first passed to Ansu Fati, another La Masia produced prodigy who wore it for two seasons. Fati’s career has never really taken off, with injuries a major factor, and he is now viewed as a cautionary tale of a young player overburdened by expectations.

Yamal and those around him were aware of the pressures and opportunities that now come with wearing that iconic number at Barca. But the jersey has not looked heavy on his teenage shoulders. He produced the best numbers of his career this past club season, scoring 24 goals and providing 18 assists in 45 games for Barcelona.

Meanwhile, there has been no sign of Messi or his camp embracing the idea of Yamal being his successor. Those around the Argentinian have always maintained that his talents are unique, his achievements unrepeatable. The idea of an ‘heir’ does not make sense to them.

Even as Yamal’s incredibly impressive performances have made more and more people talk about the similarities between their play and their trajectories, he has always steered away from any comparisons with Messi.

“I don’t want to compare myself with anyone and even less with Messi,” he said at a pre-match press conference in April 2025. “I try to follow my own path. Obviously, I look up to him as the best footballer ever, but I don’t make the comparison.”

When Yamal’s standing as a global star was further enhanced by an appearance on CBS News’ 60 Minutes programme in December, he repeated that message.

“I knew this topic was coming, but it came up later than usual (in this interview),” he said confidently.

“I respect him for what he has been, what he is to football. If we ever meet one day on a football pitch, there will be that mutual respect.

“For me, he is the best in history. Messi knows I don’t want to be him. I want to follow my own path. And that’s it.”

Additional reporting: Pol Ballús and Paul Tenorio

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