Sunday’s World Cup final pits Lionel Messi against Lamine Yamal, a matchup that closes a remarkable story stretching back almost two decades. For many, it feels like the sport is bringing a long-running chapter to its conclusion at the highest possible level.
Quick facts
- Messi and Yamal will face each other in the World Cup final on Sunday.
- In 2007, a 20-year-old Messi and Yamal (born in July that year) appeared together in a UNICEF photo.
- Yamal’s family won a raffle to pose with a Barcelona player for a 2008 UNICEF calendar.
- One image shows Messi helping Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, bathe the smiling five-month-old boy in a blue plastic tub.
- Messi, 39, will be playing in his third World Cup final and is expected to be his last tournament appearance.
- Yamal, who has followed Messi’s path at Barcelona, has only just turned 19.
- Messi and Yamal are UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors.
Back in 2007, Messi—then aged 20—appeared alongside Yamal in a UNICEF-organised picture. Yamal was born in July of that year, and the UNICEF shoot formed part of the agency’s wider humanitarian and development work for children and mothers around the world.
The connection was strengthened through Yamal’s family. They had entered and won a raffle that allowed them to take part in a 2008 UNICEF calendar featuring a Barcelona player.
In one of the images from that UNICEF session, Messi is captured assisting Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, as she gives the smiling five-month-old a bath in a blue plastic tub. The scene later became a defining snapshot of the two lives crossing paths long before either was set for football’s biggest nights.
UNICEF Catalonia spokesperson Laia Ruich said Messi “stole” Yamal’s heart because the youngster was always smiling. Nearly 20 years later, both players are now set to share the sport’s greatest stage.
Yamal, the teenage Barcelona prodigy now starring for Spain, has just turned 19. He has followed a similar route through Barcelona to the one Messi took, and the parallel has only grown more striking with time.
Messi, at 39, arrives in Sunday’s final as Argentina captain for a third World Cup final. The tournament is widely expected to be his final World Cup appearance, adding extra weight to the occasion.
Messi reflects on the moment
Speaking at a fan event in Manhattan on Friday, Messi described the UNICEF photograph as “incredible.” He said he had taken a picture with Yamal when the Barcelona star was a baby, and that it is “crazy” to think they are both now set to compete in a World Cup final.
Messi also addressed the emotional pull of facing a player whose path mirrors his own. While he said he has a soft spot for Yamal because of their shared history with Barcelona, he insisted it will not interfere with the job at hand on Sunday: beating Spain.
He added that wishing Yamal well is natural, but that the match plan will be built around stopping him from being at his best. Messi said Yamal’s age means he has an entire career ahead of him, but that Argentina will do everything possible to prevent him from lifting the trophy this time.
The photographer Joan Monfort described the original UNICEF meeting and the fact that it now lines up with a World Cup final date as “a true miracle of destiny.” Monfort said that if the story were written like a movie, it would be hard to believe it could happen.
Even Spain midfielder Mikel Merino admitted he initially doubted the authenticity of the images when he first came across them. Merino said he thought it was an AI fabrication, but added that it is unbelievable that two of the best players to have played the game share such a picture.
Both Messi and Yamal now carry UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador roles, reinforcing how their relationship began far from the spotlight. In June, Yamal spoke about what football gave him as he grew up—saying he had family, a ball, a park, and a dream, and that the sport provided structure, belonging, and hope.
Yamal also stressed how important it is for children to have a safe place to play so they can enjoy childhood rather than worry about danger. It was a message that fit neatly with the innocence captured in the early photograph.
Yamal has long spoken of Messi as his main idol. He described Barcelona as his only team and admitted that he never had another reference point—saying he took a photo with Messi when he was unknown at the time. The widely shared 2007 image of Messi bathing a baby Yamal has since taken on iconic status, with many seeing the symbolism as a passing of the torch from one era to the next.
Sunday now presents the ultimate stage for that symbolism. The two are set to meet again, but this time in a World Cup final, in what many will view as a fitting setting for a changing of the guard.
Pressure, expectations and Spain’s campaign
Still, the situation inevitably places heavy expectations on Yamal. Even if he has learned to handle the weight since breaking into Barcelona’s starting XI at 16, the public narrative surrounding him can be relentless.
Messi’s exceptional longevity across more than two decades is what makes him stand alone among players in history. Asking Yamal to match that kind of sustained greatness is a tall order, even for someone already performing well beyond his years.
Yamal has said that reaching Messi’s level is impossible, but he also hopes he can “maybe one day” be like him. That ambition, he has suggested, is simply part of his personality—something that comes naturally for a player who has always targeted greatness.
He has insisted that he no longer feels pressure, saying he left it behind in Mataró years ago. His early fearlessness has long been used as evidence that he can thrive in major tournaments, including performing confidently at a European Championship as a teenager.
Even so, Yamal may carry pressure of a different kind—self-imposed expectations. After Spain’s quarter-final meeting with Belgium, he said he is very demanding of himself and is never satisfied with what he does, a mindset that can be both a strength and a source of strain.
That drive may also help explain moments during Spain’s 2026 World Cup run when he attempted to do too much. The broader belief long before the tournament began was that Yamal was central to Spain’s hopes of winning, which made his absence from the end of Barcelona’s 2025-26 season through injury a major concern.
Spain’s struggles without him became more pronounced after a shock opening draw with Cape Verde. Yamal began that match on the bench, and once he returned to the starting line-up, the team looked like a different side—sharper and more dangerous.
On Sunday, Yamal gets the chance to prove it again, this time with his childhood idol watching on from the other side of the pitch. For a player who has always seemed destined to follow Messi’s path, the final offers an unusually perfect stage to write the next chapter.
