{"id":56460,"date":"2026-07-17T12:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/56460\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:17:09","slug":"messi-once-bathed-baby-yamal-now-the-young-phenom-faces-the-legend-for-soccers-biggest-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/56460\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi once bathed baby Yamal, now the young phenom faces the legend for soccer\u2019s biggest prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Lionel Messi, 20, helps to bathe Lamine Yamal, who was merely six months old at the time with Yamal’s mother Sheila Ebana during a photo session in September, 2007, in the dressing room of the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain. The two will face each other in Sunday’s World Cup final.Joan Monfort\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn\u2019t think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi<\/a> bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal.<\/p>\n

Now those images of the longhaired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer\u2019s Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about \u2013 and gawked about \u2013 in the runup to Sunday\u2019s World Cup final, when Messi\u2019s Argentina will play Yamal\u2019s Spain<\/a> for the biggest trophy in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations,\u201d Monfort told the Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday.<\/p>\n

Monfort, who works as a freelance photojournalist for the AP, took the photos in 2007 as part of a charity calendar produced by local newspaper Sport and UNICEF.<\/p>\n

What you need to know about the World Cup final and how to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

Luck dictated that Yamal\u2019s mother, who appears in the calendar photo, won a raffle of families in the city of Matar\u00f3, near Barcelona, who wanted to participate. Soccer destiny then deemed that her baby boy, who would become a star for Barcelona some 15 years later, was paired up with the Argentine who would become the greatest of all time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Rebecca Blackwell\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamal, 19, will showdown with Messi, who is 20 years his senior, in Sunday\u2019s World Cup final.Claudia Greco\/Reuters<\/p>\n

A tearful Messi left Barcelona in 2021 when the club was in financial trouble. Yamal erupted at the club two years later. The journey is now complete, from bathtub to World Cup<\/a> final, when the 19-year-old Yamal will face a Messi who is 20 years his senior. <\/p>\n

Monfort had no recollection of the photos until Yamal\u2019s father posted one on social media during the 2024 European Championship, when a teenage Yamal was enjoying his international breakout and led Spain to the title.<\/p>\n

The photo went viral then. But now, with the World Cup final looming, Monfort said, interest in his photos has skyrocketed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has exploded all over the world, and the fact that the final is in the U.S. has given it the extra push,\u201d Monfort said. \u201cAnd now this has culminated with the final between Messi and Yamal. It is better than any film script.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monfort said that he has been bombarded by queries for the photos by professional media outlets, while also seeing his images reproduced countless times on social media and the internet without any credit or compensation.<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Spaniards pierce France\u2019s veneer of inevitability, proving they\u2019re the rightful favourite<\/a><\/p>\n

Like many Barcelona fans, Monfort\u2019s loyalty is split. It is common to see children wearing both Yamal\u2019s Barcelona and Spain shirts, as well as any Messi shirt, whether from his Barcelona years or Argentina or his current club, Inter Miami, on the city\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n

Monfort, 58, is considering travelling to see the final in New Jersey, but whether he watches it in person or at home, he said he will have trouble cheering for one team or the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart is split. I don\u2019t know if I want Messi or Yamal to win,\u201d said Monfort, a lifelong Barcelona supporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have an everlasting love for the best player of all time (Messi),\u201d he said, but \u201cYamal has broken the mould here\u201d and represents a new, diverse Spain, thanks to his parents from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. \u201cMaybe they can both win. I wouldn\u2019t rule it out after everything we have seen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Lionel Messi, 20, helps to bathe Lamine Yamal, who was merely six months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6970,6961,92,6971,695,6956,6972,3937,6955,6966,6967,6963,6957,6954,371,859,197,6965,6960,6983,6958,6959,593,6962,1957,697,6973,2998,6978,6979,6981,6976,6980,6974,6977,804,6968,6969,24,6233,6975,2735,3043,357,6964,738,394,6982],"class_list":["post-56460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-barcelona","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}