Lionel Messi was a 20-year-old rising star, already a regular starter for Barcelona, when he was asked to pose for a photo with a five-month-old baby. Nineteen years later, that baby, Lamine Yamal, is Spain's teen prodigy, and the two will face each other in Sunday's World Cup final.
The photographs, taken by Joan Monfort in 2007 in the away dressing room at Barcelona's Camp Nou, show a smiling Messi cradling and bathing tiny Lamine Yamal. The baby's parents, Mounir Nasraoui and Sheila Ebana, had won a raffle run by Catalan newspaper Sport in conjunction with Unicef. Those selected at random would have professional photos taken of their baby with a Barcelona first-team player. Yamal was among the winners, and on the day the family arrived, they were paired with Messi by chance.
“Messi and Yamal, first photographed together in 2007 when Yamal was a baby, face off in Sunday's World Cup final.”
Monfort told BBC Sport: "It is a true miracle of destiny. 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."
He recalled: "Messi is a really introverted guy, very timid and shy. He came into the dressing room and suddenly had to take these photos with a little baby – not even a kid, a proper baby – and his face changed like he had no idea what to do! It is difficult for a young man, but Lamine was a very happy, smiley little baby. His mum Sheila helped us, she was a young girl and they were a very poor family, but they were very nice to work with. Messi was always a professional in these kinds of things and he adapted to the situation very quickly."
The images resurfaced two years ago, when Yamal helped Spain win Euro 2024, as his father posted one online with the caption: "The beginning of two legends".
Now 39, Messi is the greatest footballer of all time, while Yamal, at 19, is his heir on the right wing at Barcelona. Sunday's World Cup final pits Argentina, who defeated England in the semi-final, against Spain – and these two stars, bound by a moment of chance nearly two decades ago, will finally compete on the sport's biggest stage.
As Monfort put it: "If you wrote this in a film it would not seem possible."