Messi held Lamine Yamal as a baby; photo resurfaces ahead of World Cup final

sportsJul 18, 2026272,444

Photographer Joan Monfort’s 2007 charity photo shows then-20-year-old Lionel Messi bathing 6-month-old Lamine Yamal in a plastic tub at Barcelona’s Camp Nou during a Sport and UNICEF calendar shoot. The baby’s mother, Sheila Ebana, won a raffle of families from Mataró that placed her son in the calendar; Monfort says he did not recall the images until Yamal’s father posted one during Euro 2024. The picture resurfaced ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final, when Messi’s Argentina will face the now-19-year-old Yamal’s Spain. Messi, who left Barcelona in 2021, called the photo “crazy” and wished Yamal the best, noting the coincidence. Monfort said the image’s renewed attention has “exploded all over the world” and described the matchup as beyond reasonable explanation. Yamal led Spain to the European Championship title in 2024, and the two players will now meet again on the sport’s biggest stage in the United States.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani

@mayor.nyc.gov

Nineteen years ago, Lionel Messi bathed a baby named Lamine Yamal for a charity calendar. Some call it football's most famous blessing. Others say it sounds like the plot of the perfect movie. Tomorrow, we find out how it ends at the NYNJ Stadium.

112144d ago

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani181

Before the final chapter is written, join us live for the last World Cup Morning Pitch for the weather, traffic, and transit updates you need before kickoff. The final Morning Pitch streams at 8:30 AM on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X. See you there.

Rob Delaney97

Bill Paxton bathed me as a baby and now I’m an #actor

Huggy Kitty Cat4

I think that Lamine needs to symbolically bathe or baptize Messi somehow to complete the circle of life.

Darlene Hastings4

I watched Messi. Very very talented player !

e-lynn-k.bsky.social3

Isn't he a zionist? How about we not prop up horrible people?

Nobody Is Above The Law1

With God’s help, may Yamal kick Messi’s ass! Vamos España!! 🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸

Quoting this

Daniel Radosh12

I like this guy but I don't believe anyone has said this sounds like the plot of the perfect movie.

Lisa Diedrich9

I'm here for Mamdani as midwife to a new masculinity.

atomic bog4

dork ass mayor and comms team (complimentary)

Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version)3

Magic Johnson ass skeet from my Mayor (complimentary)

gal dente 🍝3

ah, the Skye Blue and Jon Moxley of football #AEW

Rodger Sherman

@rodger.bsky.social

How is Lionel Messi going to be able to focus on the World Cup Final knowing his team is about to fall even farther behind Nashville SC in the Supporters’ Shield race

37945d ago

fatassery.bsky.social14

As they say in Nashville and Argentina, it's about tradition not race

vince | World Cup Watcher9

The supporter's shield? I'm sure his mind is completely occupied with the Leagues Cup by now.

Mark Sanders9

These are the hard hitting questions that the lame stream sports media is afraid to ask

Colectable6

Especially with Nashville getting Tunisian and Senegalese reinforcements!

🟡 Parkins 🔵1

If he could count he’d be very upset

The Athletic

@theathletic.com

Lionel Messi helped bathe a five-month-old Lamine Yamal as part of a charity photoshoot back in December 2007. It is such an extraordinary coincidence that it scarcely feels believable, Messi admitted on Friday. nyti.ms/4wPhn9A

28445d ago

Primary Maria Cantwell (respectfully)8

The first time I saw this I thought it was a shitpost, this is nuts

8647Russ5

More Messi fluffing. Sweet. Go SPAIN!

Jason Westrope4

This does not improve Messi’s legacy.

PPG14

This is some weird shit

Steve Gray3

Yamal doesn't look happy about this strange bloke touching him up.

FC3

Lionel Messi bathing Lamine Yamal is like a Law and Order SVU storyline

Quoting this

JT Jag (Support Unions)2

Earnest question, how much will Lamine's transfer value improve in the next window *purely* because of the exposure from this story? He's a great player in his own right, but this weird destiny-matchup thing has high-level executives talking about him too, not just fans

Warren Wells, AICP

@warrenjwells.bsky.social

How is it a real story that there was a photoshoot of Lionel Messi holding Lamine Yamal as a literal baby? apnews.com/article/mess...

21945d ago

Mik Duffy.10

Insane Bronze Age myth vibes to this whole thing.

Antoine 🐜3

Harry Kane with David Beckham, 2005.The Mascot and the Maestro: Harry Kane and David Beckham (2005).

slodude.bsky.social3

After seeing him brown nosing Trump, I am disgusted by this human being. As many are.

rbsnst.bsky.social2

What a story………life has so many interesting twists and turns

Ariaa®

@ariaa.bsky.social

Lamine Yamal is 19 He wears the #19 World Cup final is on the 19th Yamal will play Messi 19 yrs after Messi bathed him in iconic photo shoot Messi wore 19 back then. #WorldCup2026 #weirdstats

18144d ago

Aurelius1

And there is less than a 19% chance that I will watch the game! Amazing!

Quoting this

theclevermonkey.bsky.social2

The Matrix has dementia and has forgotten the stories and facts it created the last 19 years. Very glitchy all of the sudden.

The Guardian

@theguardian.com

God’s will? Destiny? Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, that photo and the World Cup final

4045d ago

Rosario YD [#JB17]1

Yamal will school his fascist foe on Sunday, mark my words.

CNN

@cnn.com

The connection between Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal goes beyond the baby bathing photoshoot, and it has a lot to do with the number 19. CNN's Don Riddell breaks it down.

3845d ago

Kat 🕊️

@smith83k.bsky.social

Lionel Messi once held baby Lamine Yamal in his arms. Now they will battle for the World Cup title apnews.com/article/mess...

1544d ago

Los Angeles Times

@latimes.com

Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, stars of iconic photo shoot, to battle for World Cup crown

1345d ago

AFT

@aft.org

This is amazing. Who will go home with the trophy? Argentina or Spain? apnews.com/article/mess...

1145d ago

Fabrizio Romano (MIRROR)

@fabrizioromano.yopro20.com

❤️ Leo Messi: “That picture with Lamine… now we are facing each other in a final after a photo was taken of us when he was a baby, it's just insane!”. “We'll try to put on a good match, but I hope he and his team don't put on a good one”.

1545d ago

Quoting this

thursday3

i am way too high for this

Jonathan Tannenwald

@jtannenwald.bsky.social

As this World Cup comes to an end, its legacy in the U.S. is beginning. One part is already clear: global soccer stars have become household names here like never before. Not just Messi and Ronaldo, but Mbappé, Yamal, Haaland, Kane, and Bellingham. They know it, too, and are embracing it:

1544d ago

Dagger

@daggerwashere.bsky.social

If I'm not mistaken baby Yamal splashed some water and Messi threw himself on the ground clutching his knee.

1645d ago

andrewtheblueskier

@andrewtheblueskier.bsky.social

The craziest coincidence in the history of football has been found In 2007 FC Barcelona and UNICEF had a raffle where a random Barca player would bathe the kid of a random Barcelona family for charity. Rising star Lionel Messi was picked and the raffle winner happened to be one Lamine Yamal

On a red background, Argentine Barca player Lionel Messi is wearing a white hoodie with black undershirt, black pants and white-black Adidas trainers. He's bathing future Spanish player Lamine Yamal, here a brown/black baby, in a blue tub

1345d ago

andrewtheblueskier5

19 years later they're playing against each other in no less than the World Cup final. To sum up how unlikely this is: -- Messi (not anyone else) had to be picked to hold the baby -- Lamine Yamal (not anyone in his family) had to grow up to play football, not sunday league but professionally

Isaac (proud small hat wearer) Gantwerk Mayer5

There’s an anecdote that in 1887 Grover Cleveland put his hands on the head of a five-year-old who came to visit him in the White House and said "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be president of the United States." That kid was FDR.

Joel3

It makes sense that parents who would enter this raffle would also raise their child to play football

juuls verne1

how is this not apocryphal

Paul Callahan (he/him)1

It's a great origin story. Both his heels are immersed, so that can't be his vulnerability.

TSN

@tsnofficial.bsky.social

Lionel Messi, Tom Brady, Kevin Durant, Rodri, Novak Djokovic, Emiliano Martínez, Rio Ferdinand, Kevin Hart and Travis Scott all in one photo is NUTS 🤯

1145d ago

3 sources

latimes.comLionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, stars of iconic photo shoot, to battle for World Cup crown theguardian.comGod’s will? Destiny? Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, that photo and the World Cup final apnews.comLionel Messi once held baby Lamine Yamal in his arms. Now they will battle for the World Cup title

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Messi held Lamine Yamal as a baby; photo resurfaces ahead of World Cup final

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