2 stars and a bathtub: when World Cup leading men Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal first met
The two superstars face each other for the first time on the pitch in the final, but they share an incredible backstory from 19 years ago
Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal meet for the first time on the football pitch in Sunday’s World Cup final, which serves as a reminder that the Argentina veteran and the Spain teenager share an extraordinary history dating back to 2007.
Back then, rising Barcelona star Messi was pictured bathing and cradling an infant Yamal in a photo shoot organised by Barcelona and their shirt sponsors, children’s relief organisation Unicef, for a calendar.
Yamal’s parents were invited via a raffle conducted by local paper Sport, the winners getting a professional photo shoot with a Barcelona first-team player.
The photos were kept under wraps until Yamal’s father shared them on Instagram when Yamal had his international breakthrough at Euro 2024.
“It is a true miracle of destiny,” Joan Monfort, who took the photographs, told the BBC.
“It is serendipity – when you find something extra special, so much bigger than you ever thought. If you wrote this in a film, it would not seem possible.”