Messi Yamal now carries a strange kind of edge: Lionel Messi once bathed Lamine Yamal as a 5-month-old for a 2007 charity calendar, and the two could meet at the World Cup. The picture has turned a routine charity shoot into a live sporting possibility, with Argentina and Spain still needing to clear the final hurdle before that matchup can happen.
2007 at Camp Nou
2007 is where the story begins, with Joan Monfort’s camera capturing Messi in a scene that could have belonged to family album material instead of sports lore. Monfort said the shoot was part of an annual charity drive hosted by UNICEF and Diario Sport, and that a raffle brought Yamal’s family from Rocafonda in Mataró to Camp Nou for the chance to have their picture taken with a player.
5 months old is all Yamal was when that bath was photographed, and the images that followed made the moment even more ordinary and more uncanny at the same time. Monfort said Messi was shy and did not know how to hold the baby at first; in one photo, Sheila Ebana helps him with the bath, and in another he cradles Yamal wrapped in a towel.
Argentina and Spain
June 21 changed the frame around the photo, because Yamal scored 10 minutes into his first World Cup start against Saudi Arabia and announced himself on the same stage where Messi was already adding to his record. July 7 pushed Messi’s side forward with a 3-2 win over Egypt, and he scored after missing a first-half penalty, becoming the first player in the contest’s history to score in 6 consecutive knockout-stage matches.
July 10 kept Spain in the race when it eliminated Belgium 2-0, which is the part that makes the photo more than a nostalgia item. Spain and Argentina are on opposite sides of the World Cup bracket, so Messi and Yamal would only face each other on the pitch if both teams reach the finals.
Joan Monfort in 2024
2024 brought the most pointed read on the image when Monfort said the meeting between Messi and Yamal was kismet. He also said, “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,” and added, “We are talking about 2007. Messi was only beginning at Barca then. Destiny plays an important role in these things.”
Messi is 39-year-old and Yamal is 18-year-old now, but the real issue is bracket math, not sentiment. Will Argentina and Spain both advance far enough for Messi and Yamal to actually face each other at the World Cup?
