In 2007, a shaggy-haired 20-year-old Lionel Messi stood over a blue plastic tub, soap suds on his hands, bathing a baby boy for a UNICEF charity calendar. The photographer, Joan Monfort, didn’t think much of it. Just another day at the office.
That baby is Lamine Yamal. On Sunday, the 19-year-old Spanish phenom and the Argentine icon — now 20 years his senior — will face each other at MetLife Stadium for the 2026 World Cup title.
“I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts,” Monfort told the Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday. “This is beyond all reasonable explanations.”
Monfort, a freelance photojournalist for the AP, shot the photos for a charity calendar co-produced by the newspaper Sport and UNICEF. Yamal’s mother won a raffle among families in Mataró, near Barcelona, to participate. Her infant son — who would become a Barcelona star and European champion — was paired with the Argentine who would become one of the greatest to ever lace them up.
The photo sat forgotten until Yamal’s father posted it on social media during the 2024 European Championship, when a teenage Yamal led Spain to the title. It went viral then. With a World Cup final between the two subjects now days away, Monfort said interest has detonated.
“This has exploded all over the world, and the fact that the final is in the U.S. has given it the extra push,” Monfort said. “It is better than any film script.”
Messi addressed the photo Friday at Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in New York. Through an interpreter, he called it “crazy.”
“He is one of the best players in the world right now, so I wish him the best,” Messi said. “He’s only 19 years old. He has all of his future ahead. He has the opportunity to make history, but we’re going to give it our best.”
“What a crazy picture,” Messi added. “I wish him the best of luck. We’re going to try to give them the best match possible.”
Yamal’s Spain teammate Mikel Merino had the reaction most people do when they first see the image.
“The first time I saw it, I thought it was AI and that it wasn’t even real,” Merino said Friday. “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.”
For Monfort, a lifelong Barcelona supporter, the final is a loyalty problem that would give a lesser man an ulcer. Messi left Barcelona in tears in 2021 when the club’s finances collapsed. Yamal erupted at the club two years later. Both are beloved at the Camp Nou.
“My heart is split. I don’t know if I want Messi or Yamal to win,” Monfort said. “I have an everlasting love for the best player of all time, but Yamal has broken the mold here.”
Monfort, 58, is considering traveling to New Jersey for the final. Whether he makes it or watches from his couch, he said he won’t be able to pick a side.
“Maybe they can both win,” he said. “I wouldn’t rule it out after everything we have seen.”