As a baby, Yamal met Messi for a photo ... now he’ll meet him for a shot at glory
In December 2007, photographer Joan Monfort took a picture of a 20-year-old Lionel Messi, who had begun his legendary Barcelona career just over three years earlier. In the photo, he is with Lamine Yamal -- who was only 5 months old.
“It’s a one-in-a-million chance that this could happen,” Monfort said. “It’s such good fortune.”
The photo was published in a 2008 charity calendar organized by Barcelona’s club foundation and the newspaper Diario Sport, with the money raised going to UNICEF and other charities around Catalonia, Spain.
As part of a yearly initiative back then, members of the Barcelona squad were photographed alongside children. Yamal’s family won a raffle to be included. Hundreds of families collaborated, and most of the photos have now been forgotten, beyond the treasured private memories of those who took part.
It just so happens that Yamal, Barcelona’s star of the future, was paired with Messi, who would go on to win the Ballon d’Or eight times. Now, they will meet in Sunday’s World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey -- the first time they will have ever confronted each other on a soccer field, as Spain meets Argentina.
The bathing photo, as well as several other images from the shoot, returned to public view during the 2024 European Championship, when Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, shared it on social media.
Monfort was surprised when a former colleague from Diario Sport contacted him after the photo of Messi and Yamal went viral during Euro 2024.
“He sent me the photo, and I asked him who the baby was,” Monfort said. “He started to laugh and said, ‘Lamine, Lamine.’”
Monfort told The Athletic in a July 2024 interview that the whole experience was “something incredible.”
“Back then, nobody could imagine that this baby would be who he is now -- and you could not have known that Messi would become who he became, either,” he said. “We are talking about 2007. Messi was only beginning at Barca then. Destiny plays an important role in these things.”
In December 2007, Messi had already won two La Liga titles and a Champions League crown, but he was still just an emerging talent in a squad full of established stars, including Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Thierry Henry. The photo shoot started out slightly awkwardly, Monfort said.
“Messi is still shy now,” he said. “He was much more shy when he was starting out, and he finds himself there with a tiny baby in a plastic bath full of water. At the start, there was not much interaction. It was difficult for all of them. But, bit by bit, it started to happen, and in the end, it’s a pretty good photo.”
Monfort tried to make sure each family got copies of the pictures he took with their children to keep themselves, especially in this case, given the effort that Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, made to bring him from the town of Mataro, northeast of Barcelona.
“I’d always want to give them a photo; it makes them really happy,” Monfort said. “The player might not be too worried, but the parents of the kids would be very excited.”
It was around 6 1/2 years later when Yamal started to travel regularly from Mataro to Barcelona for training, after joining the club’s La Masia youth academy in 2014.
His progress has been phenomenal. Yamal made his La Liga debut at the age of 15 in April 2023. An international debut with Spain came in September of that year. He was a key part of the Spain team that won Euro 2024 and is now its biggest star at this World Cup.
At club level, meanwhile, Yamal wears Messi’s iconic No. 10 shirt for Barcelona and has emerged as the closest possible successor to the Argentina legend, who achieved so much during his 21 years in Catalonia.
Monfort is still taking photos. He works freelance for Madrid-based sports newspaper Diario AS and other clients, including Agence France-Presse. But the photo of Messi and Yamal stands out.
“It’s the most famous photo I’ve taken in my life, by a long way,” he said. “So many people have been interested, again during this World Cup now. If Lamine keeps growing like he is growing, the photo will be even more historic. The chances of all this happening was like winning the lottery.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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