An image taken in the locker rooms of the Camp Nou in 2007 became this Thursday the most powerful symbol of the final of the 2026 World Cup: Lionel Messi, at 20 years old, bathing a six-month-old baby named Lamine Yamal, who will face him this Sunday in the tournament's final, representing Spain.
The photo session was part of a charity calendar that the Catalan newspaper Sport has been producing since 2004 in collaboration with the FC Barcelona Foundation and UNICEF, aimed at raising awareness for childhood support programs.
Yamal's family arrived at the blue-and-burgundy stadium thanks to a charitable raffle organized by UNICEF in the Rocafonda neighborhood of Mataró, the hometown of the winger.
«UNICEF held a raffle in the neighborhood where Lamine's family lived. They entered for a chance to take a photo at Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won the raffle,» explained Joan Monfort, the photographer who captured the images, in a statement to the Associated Press.
The player assigned to the family was Messi by pure chance. Monfort, who brought the bathtub of his own daughter, towels, and a rubber duck to create the scene, recalled that the meeting was not easy at the beginning: "Messi is a rather introverted, shy person. He came out of the locker room and suddenly found himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby inside. At first, he didn't even know how to hold it."
It was precisely the rubber duck that broke the tension and allowed capturing the images in which Messi appears smiling alongside the baby and his mother, Sheila Ebana. Monfort described those photos as “the most famous I have ever taken, by far” and added to the EFE agency: “There is no amount of money that can pay for a photo like that.”
The images remained unpublished for more than 16 years. It was Yamal's father, Mounir Nasraoui, who released them in July 2024, ahead of Spain's match against Germany in the quarter-finals of the Euro Cup, with the phrase "the beginning of two legends." The images went viral immediately, especially following Yamal's goal against France in the semifinals of that tournament.
Nasraoui described the meeting as "a coincidence of life" and, when a journalist suggested it seemed "like a blessing from Leo to his son," he responded with humor: "Or a blessing from Lamine to Messi."
Yamal himself acknowledged in an interview with journalist Gerard Romero on the program Jijantes that he "wasn't even aware at that moment that he was with Messi" and explained why the family took so long to make it public: "We never brought it to light because in the end, we didn't want the comparisons between Leo and me."
Regarding those comparisons, the extreme was straightforward: "I don't think anyone would mind being compared to the greatest player in history, but in the end, those things take away from you because you'll never be like him."
The FC Barcelona summarized the story in an official statement published this Thursday: "Fate brought together the paths of Leo Messi and Lamine Yamal for the first time. Luck and chance aligned to create that magical moment in which a global football legend from Barça held in his arms a young talent destined to follow in his footsteps."
Argentina reached the World Cup final after defeating England 2-1 in the semifinals on Tuesday in Atlanta, with a pass from Messi to Lautaro Martínez for the goal in added time. Spain, for its part, eliminated France 2-0 on Monday in Dallas, with Yamal as the standout player.
During the World Cup, when shown a photo in an interview, Yamal responded with a smile: "Yes, I’ve grown a bit, and I think Leo has too. I hope it happens. I would love to face Messi in a World Cup final, since it didn't happen in the Finalissima." The wish was fulfilled: the final between Argentina and Spain is scheduled for Sunday, July 19, at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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