![\"Yamal](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284431796-1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA version of this article was first published in July 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a difficult shot,\u201d photographer Joan Monfort told The Athletic. \u201cWe can say I sweated some blood to take it.<\/p>\n
\u201cLionel Messi is still shy now. He was much more shy when he was starting out, and he finds himself there with a tiny baby in a plastic bath full of water. At the start, there was not much interaction. It was difficult for all of them. But, bit by bit, it started to happen and in the end, it\u2019s a pretty good photo.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December 2007, Monfort took a photo of a 20-year-old Messi, who had begun his legendary Barcelona career just over three years earlier, and Lamine Yamal \u2014 who was five months old.<\/p>\n
It was published in a 2008 charity calendar organised by Barcelona\u2019s club foundation and newspaper Diario Sport, with the money raised going to UNICEF and other charities around Catalonia.<\/p>\n
As part of a yearly initiative back then, members of the Barcelona squad were photographed alongside children. Hundreds of families collaborated and most of the photos have now been forgotten, beyond the treasured private memories of those who took part.<\/p>\n
It just so happens that Yamal, Barca\u2019s star of the future, was paired with Messi, who would go on to win the Ballon d\u2019Or eight times.<\/p>\n
The bathing photo, as well as a number of other images from the shoot, including one where Messi is seen cradling a baby Yamal in a towel, and another where Yamal\u2019s mother Sheila Ebana helps wash her son, returned to public view during the European Championship of 2024, when Yamal\u2019s father, Mounir Nasraoui, shared it on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something incredible,\u201d Monfort told The Athletic in a July 2024 interview. \u201cBack then, nobody could imagine that this baby would be who he is now \u2014 and you could not have known that Messi would become who he became, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are talking about 2007. Messi was only beginning at Barca then. Destiny plays an important role in these things.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December 2007, Messi had already won two La Liga titles and a Champions League, but he was still just an emerging talent in a squad full of established stars including Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto\u2019o, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Thierry Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey gave you a list of 12 players, one for each month,\u201d Monfort said. \u201cOften footballers come in and say \u2018let\u2019s go, let\u2019s do it. I\u2019m in a rush; what do you want to do?\u2019. But you have to take your time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be a bit cold, especially in a photo where you need interaction between two people who do not know each other. Then, when one is a baby and the other is 20, it can get difficult. But it turned out pretty well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mother helped a lot. Her presence was super necessary, so the baby did not feel it was too strange. You look for a tender image \u2014 something sweet and nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Yamal and Spain face Portugal in the World Cup last 16 on Monday (Michael Steele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Monfort always tried to make sure each family got a copy of the photos he took to keep themselves, especially in this case given the effort Yamal\u2019s mother made to take him to the Camp Nou from the town of Mataro, north-east of Barcelona.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d always want to give them a photo, it makes them really happy,\u201d Monfort said. \u201cThe player might not be too worried, but the parents of the kids would be very excited. They lived 40km away. Not everyone would do that with a young baby. They would have to make the trip, then wait for the player to arrive, for everything to be set up.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was around six and a half years later when Yamal started to travel regularly from Mataro for Barcelona training, after joining the club\u2019s La Masia youth academy in 2014.<\/p>\n
His progress has been phenomenal. Yamal made his La Liga debut with Barca aged 15 in April 2023. An international debut with Spain came aged 16 in the September of that year. Yamal was a key part of the Spain team that won Euro 2024. He is now their biggest World Cup star.<\/p>\n
![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284650741-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n