Lionel Messi’s 2007 Pic With Lamine Yamal as a Baby Comes Full Circle

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You might need some extra time to wrap your head around this 2026 World Cup twist.

Lionel Messi and Argentina have scored their way to the championship match against Spain July 19 after three consecutive games with stunning, late-in-the-match wins. But even more striking than their possible back-to-back title is the apparent destiny of Messi facing off against Spain’s new prodigy: 19-year-old Lamine Yamal.

That’s because back in 2007 the pair were photographed together for a charity calendar when Yamal—born and raised just outside of Barcelona—was a 6-month-old baby and Messi was an up-and-coming 19-year-old playing for FC Barcelona. (In another twist of fate, Yamal now plays for FC Barcelona himself while Messi plays for MLS Club Inter Miami CF.)

And for detractors calling for a red card on the photo’s authenticity, it is 100 percent real, UNICEF, which sponsored the calendar, confirmed.

During the shoot, Barca players posed with local children who won their appearances in a raffle and Messi just so happened to be randomly paired with Yamal for the January photo, which featured Messi bathing Yamal in a small plastic tub.

Now that Messi and Yamal—respectively considered to be one of the best to ever play soccer and his possible heir apparent—are set to face off in the World Cup final, even their respective teammates are stunned by their past connection.

“The first time I saw it, I thought it was AI and that it wasn’t even real,” Yamal’s teammate Mikel Merino told reporters July 17. “It’s unbelievable that two of the best players to have played the game—and hopefully Lamine, in the future, will be one of those—share a picture like that.”

AP Photo/Joan Monfort

The midfielder added, “Hopefully we’re going to see a very bright final with those two protagonists at their best, playing and giving all the fans a great spectacle.”

Meanwhile, the photographer who snapped the pic, Joan Monfort, can’t help but feel like he scored a golden goal by capturing moment.

“I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur,” he told the Associated Press in an interview published July 17, “but I am beginning to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations.”

As he put it, “And now this has culminated with the final between Messi and Yamal. It is better than any film script.”

Messi and Yamal meet once more when the 2026 World Cup final takes place on July 19.

Though Messi and Yamal’s lore runs deep at the 2026 World Cup, they aren’t the only stars who took North America by storm during the tournament. Keep reading to see more notable athletes who competed…

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