From a plastic tub at Camp Nou to the World Cup final: Messi and Yamal's 19-year arc

The photo that slept for 15 years

In 2007, a 20-year-old Lionel Messi, still years from his first Ballon d'Or, walked into a makeshift studio at Camp Nou. He found a plastic tub, a rubber duck, and an infant named Lamine Yamal. The shoot, part of a UNICEF charity calendar organised by Sport newspaper and FC Barcelona, produced an image that stayed buried in archives until the summer of 2024. That June, as Spain surged through the European Championship, Yamal's father Mounir Nasraoui posted the photo on Instagram with the caption "The beginning of two legends." The picture shows a smiling baby in a bath, his mother Sheila Ebana beside him, and a long-haired Messi leaning in with visible awkwardness.

No money can pay for a photo like that.

Photographer Joan Monfort, who shot the calendar that day, told the Associated Press the session was anything but smooth. "He was coming out of the dressing room and suddenly found himself in another dressing room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby inside," Monfort recalled. Messi, not yet a father, had no idea how to hold the child. "It was complicated. At first he didn't even know how to hold him. It was very difficult."

How a lottery put Yamal in Messi's arms

The Yamal family lived in the Rocafonda neighbourhood of Mataró, a coastal city near Barcelona. UNICEF ran a lottery among local families, and the Yamals won a spot in the calendar shoot. Monfort later noted the randomness of the pairing. "Chance brought them together; the photo could have been with another player, but it was taken with Leo. Surely, if the child's family could have chosen, the photo would have been with Ronaldinho, Xavi or Iniesta," he said, because Messi was not yet the global icon he would become.

Oriol Canals, then promotions manager at Sport, was the architect of the calendar. He told the newspaper that when he first saw the image resurface, his reaction was immediate: "Damn, this photo is ours." Canals compared the coincidence to "Michael Jordan bathing LeBron James" and said the project had been rushed in its first year, with permits obtained hastily. Later editions involved children from UNICEF programmes and the Casal dels Infants del Raval, but Yamal's participation came through the UNICEF lottery.

The road to New Jersey

Argentina booked its place in the final with a 2-1 comeback win over England. Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez scored after the team had trailed, with Messi playing a decisive role in the turnaround. Spain advanced by beating France 2-0; Lamine Yamal drew the foul that led to Mikel Oyarzabal's opening penalty, and Pedro Porro added the second. Before the semifinals, Yamal had told DAZN he hoped to face Argentina and swap shirts with Messi. That wish is now reality.

A final framed by legacy

The match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday 19 July, pits the reigning champions against a Spain side chasing a second title after 2010. Argentina is trying to become the first nation to defend the World Cup since Brazil in 1962. Messi, who turned 39 during the tournament, has called Yamal "the best" young player and said, "If I have to pick one for his age, for what he has done and for the future he can have, it's Lamine." Yamal, now 19, returned the compliment: "For me he is the best and he keeps proving it."

I've grown a little, and Leo too. I hope I can face Lionel Messi in the final, since we couldn't in the Finalissima.

The image of a shy 20-year-old bathing a baby has become the defining visual of a generational handover. On Sunday, the plastic tub gives way to a pitch, and the rubber duck to a World Cup trophy.