Messi and Lamine Yamal’s Viral Baby Photo Takes Over the World Cup Final

Lionel Messi will walk out at MetLife Stadium on Sunday for the biggest stage football has to offer, a World Cup final against Spain that doubles as a reunion with a baby he once held in a bathtub nearly two decades ago. That baby, Lamine Yamal, is now a 19-year-old Barcelona superstar lining up against him in the sport’s ultimate game, and the collision of Messi’s twilight run with Yamal’s ascension has made this the most talked-about matchup in the sport.

Messi, 39, is playing in his third World Cup final, having lost in 2014 and finally lifted the trophy in 2022. Seventeen members of Argentina’s 26-man squad were part of that title-winning group, and coach Lionel Scaloni’s side has taken a grinding path back to the final, needing extra time to beat Cape Verde and surviving tense matches against Egypt, Switzerland and England along the way. In the semifinal, Argentina trailed England 1-0 before Messi set up Enzo Fernandez for an equalizer and then delivered the cross for Lautaro Martinez’s stoppage-time header to close out a 2-1 win.

A record-breaking run at 39

Messi has recorded a goal or an assist in all seven of Argentina’s matches at this World Cup and enters the final with eight goals, tied with Kylian Mbappe atop the Golden Boot race, though Mbappe currently holds the tiebreaker on assists. Messi already made history in the group stage by passing Miroslav Klose to become the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history, and he now sits at 21 career World Cup goals. Should he score against Spain, he would become the oldest goal scorer in World Cup final history and the first player to reach nine goals in a tournament for a team that went on to win the title. He is also positioned to become the oldest outfield player to appear in a World Cup final and the first to captain a nation in three separate World Cup finals.

Spain arrives unbeaten in 37 consecutive matches, chasing a second World Cup title after their 2010 triumph and eyeing the international unbeaten record currently held by Italy. The Spanish side beat France 2-0 to reach the final, with Yamal drawing praise throughout the tournament for his composure against senior defenses despite a relatively quiet personal scoring tally of one goal through six appearances. Teammate Mikel Merino said this week that when he first saw the viral photo of Messi and Yamal together, he thought it was artificial intelligence.

The photo that captured the internet

The image driving much of the pre-final buzz dates back to 2007, when a 20-year-old Messi took part in a charity calendar shoot organized by the Catalan newspaper Diario Sport and UNICEF at Camp Nou. Photographer Joan Monfort captured Messi gently bathing a six-month-old baby in a plastic tub in the locker room, a baby whose family had won a neighborhood raffle in Mataro for the photoshoot. That baby was Yamal. The photos sat in relative obscurity until Yamal’s father posted one on Instagram in 2024 with the caption “the beginning of two legends,” and the images have surged again now that the pair are on opposite sides of a World Cup final.

Messi addressed the photo directly at a pre-match media event this week alongside Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Spain captain Rodri. “That photo is incredible,” Messi said. “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.” He also called Yamal one of the best players in the world and said Argentina would work to limit his influence on Sunday. Monfort, the photographer, told the Associated Press that interest in his original images has “exploded all over the world” since the final matchup was set, adding that the story now reads “better than any film script.”

What’s at stake Sunday

Beyond the individual records, Sunday’s final in New Jersey is being framed as a clash of styles and generations, Argentina’s Messi-powered urgency against Spain’s clinical, unbeaten machine. Hot and humid conditions at MetLife Stadium could also factor into how Spain’s possession-based approach holds up over 90 minutes. For Messi, who has openly discussed this potentially being his final World Cup appearance, a win would cement a second title and add another chapter to the enduring debate over his place among the greatest to ever play the game. For Yamal, a victory would mark the completion of an improbable arc from a bathtub photo in a Barcelona locker room to a World Cup-winning appearance against the same man who once held him.