The Baby Messi once held Is now chasing him for World Cup glory

When Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Spain’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal step onto the pitch for Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final, millions of football fans will witness more than a clash between two footballing powerhouses.

The match will symbolize the meeting of two generations—one legend seeking to further cement his place among the greatest players in history, and another prodigy widely regarded as the future face of world football.

Yet beyond the battle for the sport’s biggest prize lies one of football’s most remarkable stories, a journey that began almost two decades ago in the most unlikely of settings: a charity photo shoot inside Barcelona’s Camp Nou.

At just 20 years old, the Argentine was an immensely talented youngster who had recently graduated from Barcelona’s renowned La Masia academy and was beginning to establish himself in the club’s first team.

At the same time, Lamine Yamal was just six months old—a baby whose family had no idea that he would one day become one of football’s brightest stars.

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Their lives intersected purely by chance in 2007 during a charity initiative organised by Spanish sports newspaper Diario Sport to raise funds for UNICEF, one of Barcelona’s principal partners at the time.

As part of the campaign, families across Catalonia entered a raffle for the opportunity to feature alongside Barcelona players in a charity calendar.

Among hundreds of entrants was Yamal’s family from the coastal town of Mataró, about 40 kilometres from Camp Nou.

Inside Barcelona’s dressing room, photographer Joan Monfort arranged what appeared to be an ordinary promotional shoot.

Messi carefully held the infant Yamal inside a small blue plastic bathtub while the baby’s mother, Sheila Ebana, assisted nearby.

Additional photographs showed the young Barcelona forward wrapping the smiling infant in a towel after the mock bath.

The images were later published in Barcelona’s 2008 charity calendar before quietly disappearing into newspaper archives and family photo albums.

At the time, nobody could have imagined they had captured what would eventually become one of football’s most symbolic photographs.

The image simply showed a promising young footballer holding an unknown baby. Years later, it would represent something far greater.

For more than 15 years, the pictures remained largely forgotten.

Then, during the 2024 UEFA European Championship, Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, shared one of the photographs on social media with the caption:

The image suddenly transformed from a forgotten charity photograph into a powerful symbol linking two generations of Barcelona and world football.

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Messi, naturally shy and still adjusting to life as a first-team player, found himself trying to pose with a tiny baby he had never met before.

The baby was understandably unfamiliar with the surroundings.

Monfort later recalled that it took patience from everyone involved—particularly Yamal’s mother—to create the calm, tender atmosphere reflected in the final images.

Only years later did he fully appreciate the historical significance of what his camera had captured.

Messi progressed from La Masia to become Barcelona’s greatest player, winning numerous domestic and European titles before lifting the FIFA World Cup with Argentina and collecting a record number of Ballon d’Or awards.

Having also emerged from Barcelona’s famed academy, the teenager has rapidly established himself as one of Europe’s finest young talents.

His fearless style, creativity and maturity have led many observers to describe him as the natural successor to the Argentine legend at Camp Nou.

Although comparisons with Messi remain inevitable, Yamal has continued to carve out his own identity while acknowledging the enormous influence the Argentine has had on his generation.

For Messi, now approaching the twilight of an extraordinary career, the match offers another opportunity to extend an already unmatched legacy by leading Argentina to consecutive World Cup titles.

For Yamal, still only 19 years old, it represents the biggest moment of his young career.

Victory would not only deliver Spain’s first World Cup title since 2010 but also confirm his arrival among football’s elite.

Reflecting on the famous photograph this week, Yamal joked that both he and Messi had changed considerably since their first meeting.

The teenager admitted that facing the player who once held him as a baby in a World Cup final makes the occasion even more special.

Now, after 19 remarkable years, fate has brought them together again—not for a photograph inside Barcelona’s dressing room, but on the grandest stage in world football.

Whatever the outcome on Sunday, one image will forever connect them: the day a young Lionel Messi gently cradled a baby who would grow up to challenge him for football’s ultimate prize.