Messi and Yamal face off in World Cup final two decades after UNICEF baby shoot

EAST RUTHERFORD, United States (AFP) — Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal will oppose each other in Sunday’s World Cup final, completing a rare arc that began almost 20 years ago.

In 2007, Messi — then 20 — appeared with Yamal, who was born that July, in images arranged by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), which supports children and mothers around the world. Yamal’s relatives had won a raffle granting a pose with a Barcelona footballer for a 2008 UNICEF calendar.

One frame from the session shows Messi assisting Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, as she bathed the cheerful five-month-old in a blue plastic tub. “The photographer, Joan Monfort, has said that Lamine Yamal stole Messi’s heart because he was always smiling,” UNICEF Catalan’s Laia Ruich said on the organisation’s website.

Close to two decades on, the pair now share the sport’s biggest occasion. Yamal, Spain’s teenage standout who has trailed Messi’s path at Barcelona, has only recently celebrated his 19th birthday. Argentina skipper Messi, 39, is contesting his third World Cup final and is widely expected to be making his final tournament appearance.

“That photo is incredible,” Messi said at a Manhattan fan gathering on Friday. “I took a picture with him when he was a baby … the fact that we’re both playing in the World Cup now is crazy.”

Messi noted warmth toward Yamal because of their shared Barcelona link, yet insisted that will not soften his focus on defeating Spain on Sunday.

“I wish him luck because his success will be Barcelona’s success, (but) we’ll try to keep him from playing at his best. “He’s 19 years old and has his whole career ahead of him. I wish him the best, but we’ll give it our all to ensure he doesn’t become champion this time.”

Monfort called their first encounter and later World Cup final meeting “a true miracle of destiny”. “If you wrote this in a film it would not seem possible,” Monfort told the BBC.

Spain midfielder Mikel Merino said Friday that he first assumed the image was fake. “The first time I saw it, I thought it was AI and that it wasn’t even real,” Merino said. “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.”

Messi and Yamal are both UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors. “Growing up, all I had was a family, a ball, a park and a dream,” Yamal said in June. “Playing football gave me structure, a sense of belonging, and hope for the future. “I know how important it is for children to have a safe place to play, so that they can simply enjoy being children.”