Of all the full-circle moments in sports history, this one might actually take the cake.
Argentinian soccer icon Lionel Messi was photographed in 2007bathing an adorable, chubby baby as part of a charity calendar for his then-club FC Barcelona. Almost two decades later, Argentina is slated to move forward to the World Cup quarterfinals — and Messi might actually face off against that very child, Lamine Yamal, who grew up to be a superstar right winger for Spain.
Fans can’t get enough of the now-legendary throwback photo, with some saying that the baby bath was Messi’s “sacred” way of passing along his exceptional soccer prowess. Even comedian Trevor Noah has geeked out over the image.
“It’s crazy that it’s real. Imagine this moment,” Noah recently said during his World Cup Watch Party. “These people are both playing in the same World Cup right now. And this baby boy is one of the most talented players.”
Spain and Argentina, who are both headed to the Round of 8, are on opposite sides of the World Cup bracket, meaning Messi and Yamal wouldn’t face off on the pitch unless both teams make it to the finals.
Messi’s Team Argentina won 3-2 against Egypt on July 7. The 39-year-old, who missed a first-half penalty, made it up to his team with a goal, making him the first player in the contest’s history to score in six consecutive knockout-stage matches. Yamal, 18, is also lighting up the pitch, scoring just 10 minutes into his first World Cup start against Saudi Arabia on June 21. Spain most recently eliminated Portugal with a score of 1-0 on July 6.
The Story Behind Lionel Messi Bathing a Baby Lamine Yamal
Nineteen years before the two were tearing up the global stage, then-20-year-old Messi was holding a sudsy, 5-month-old Yamal in a baby basin. In the series of photos, Messi bathes the soapy baby. In one shot, Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, assists Messi with the bath. In another photo, a smiling Messi cradles Yamal, who is wrapped in a towel.
Joan Monfort, then a freelance photographer for the Associated Press, told the Athletic in a 2024 interview that the meeting between the two would-be soccer stars was kismet.
“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,” Monfort said.
He added: “We are talking about 2007. Messi was only beginning at Barca then. Destiny plays an important role in these things.”
Monfort recalled to the Associated Press in 2024 that the shoot was part of an annual charity drive hosted by humanitarian aid organization UNICEF and local Barcelona sports outlet Diario Sport. He told the outlet that the organization had hosted a raffle, inviting those in the Rocafonda neighborhood in the Spanish city of Mataró to enter for a chance to have their picture taken at the iconic FC Barcelona stadium Camp Nou with a player. Yamal’s family just so happened to have won, Monfort said.
At the time, Messi wasn’t quite comfortable with handling baby Yamal, Monfort recalled to the AP.
“Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he’s shy,” Monfort told the outlet. “He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated. He didn’t even know how to hold him at first.”
But, as Monfort told the Athletic, Messi got more comfortable with the assignment.
“At the start, there was not much interaction,” he told the outlet. “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.”
Astonishingly, Monfort said he wasn’t aware that the young child in the photos was, in fact, Yamal until a former colleague notified him that the snaps were going viral during the UEFA European Championship tournament in 2024, which was won by Spain. Yamal, then just 16 years old, had made a name for himself during that contest as the youngest player to not only appear in the tournament but also score. And it was during that tournament that Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, shared a bit about the photo’s backstory on his social media page.
“He told me the father had put it on social media,” Monfort previously told The Athletic of his colleague at Diario Sport. “In Sport, they could hardly believe it. They had just realized, too. It’s been really surprising, all this.”
For many fans, the photo has become evidence of a cosmic connection between the two players. And indeed, the similarities between Yamal and Messi continue to grow. Yamal, who made his debut in 2023, did so with none other than FC Barcelona, the team with which Messi had cemented his own name in soccer history. And since, Yamal has been recognized as somewhat of a successor to the Argentinian soccer icon, with fans saying that the rising star has restored some of the team’s dominant energy that Messi once brought.
“After Lionel Messi, he is our best player,” Barcelona midfielder Pablo Páez Gavira, known mononymously as Gavi, said.
Source: TODAY
