Yamal and Messi meet in World Cup final 17 years after charity photo
The boy in the baby bath has unbelievably become the successor to Messi at Barcelona and now, maybe, on the world stage too “Maybe Lionel Messi has picked up lots of babies, maybe it’s chance, but for those of us who have faith, who believe in something beyond, ‘chance’ is God’s pseudonym when he doesn’t want to sign his name,” Luis de la Fuente says. “In life, everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it’s true that the circle isn’t closed, but in my view there’s something else, something … I don’t know, mystical, spiritual.” Contemplate the scene, gaze upon the image of this World Cup, and
On Sunday, Argentina and Spain will contest the World Cup final, pitting Lionel Messi against Lamine Yamal. The match brings together two players whose commercial and sporting trajectories first crossed in December 2007.
That month, photographer Joan Monfort took a picture of a shy 19-year-old Messi bathing a four-month-old baby in a plastic tub for a Barcelona and Unicef charity calendar. The infant, selected randomly from a draw entered by his mother Sheila, was Yamal. The image remained forgotten in a drawer until Yamal’s father, Mounir, posted it on social media during Euro 2024 with the tag “the beginning of two legends”.
For European football’s commercial ecosystem, this final represents a rare passing of the baton between two generational assets produced by Barcelona’s La Masia academy. Yamal has already broken Messi’s records as Barcelona’s youngest debutant and goalscorer, accumulating over 50 goals. Strategic brand alignment is already visible: Yamal shares sponsors with the Argentine, a calculated move in a market where you cannot directly compete with the established elite.
Yamal’s ascent also highlights the continuing economic role of football academies in elevating talent from deprived areas. Born in the Rocafonda district of Catalonia, where around half the population is at risk of poverty and 20% are Moroccan, Yamal was spotted playing for CF La Torreta in Mataro. He chose to represent Spain over Morocco, regularly signalling his 08304 postcode when he scores.
Despite the obvious comparisons, Yamal has repeatedly sought to separate his brand from Messi’s shadow. “I want to follow my own path, that’s all; I have no intention of playing like him or anything like it,” he told CBS. His playing style, characterised by a flash and mischief he attributes to his idol Neymar, contrasts with the Argentine’s.
Jorge Valdano, the former Argentina international, noted the unavoidable parallels: “I didn’t like comparing Messi to Maradona, but Messi didn’t make it easy; I don’t like comparing Lamine to Messi but Lamine doesn’t make it easy either.” Yamal scored his first World Cup goal aged 18 wearing the number 19, exactly as Messi did two decades prior.
Yamal has already mapped out his tactical evolution, telling El País: “The only place where three men can’t mark you is in the middle and I will end up there: they can’t defend me there.”
