Spain teenager Lamine Yamal is making headlines at the Euro 2024. On Thursday, Yamal scored a world-class goal to help Spain defeat France and qualify for the final of the tournament. Yamal, who is a product of the famed La Masia academy in Barcelona, is merely 16 years old. With the talent, it is not a surprise that he is getting compared to Lionel Messi. A photo of baby Lamine Yamal with Messi has been gaining a lot of attention on social media. But is the photo correct? Here’s the truth behind the picture.
Calendar photoshoot turns into iconic picture
Nearly 17 years ago, Joan Monfort took this picture for a charitable calendar when Lamal was just a few months old. After Yamal’s father shared the long-lost pictures from 2007 on Instagram last week with the caption “the beginning of two legends,” they have since come to light again.
The photo shoot, according to 56-year-old freelance photographer Monfort, happened in Barcelona’s Camp Nou’s visitors’ locker room in 2007.
Destiny’s crucial twist sees Messi and Yamal being paired together
As part of an annual charity campaign organized by UNICEF and the local newspaper Diario Sport, Barcelona players posed for a calendar alongside kids and their families. The photo shoots were overseen by Monfort, who coincidentally paired Messi with Yamal’s family. In one of the pictures, his mother, who is from Equatorial Guinea, is standing next to Messi and the child.
Lionel Messi’s touch became a blessing?
Monfort recalled how Messi struggled during the photos, not knowing how to interact with the child.
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“Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he’s shy,” Monfort said. “He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated. He didn’t even know how to hold him at first.”
17 years later, Yamal moving towards greatness
Messi was regarded as a huge talent at the age of 20. It would take him a few years to establish himself as Barcelona’s and Argentina’s best player of his generation. However, Lamal must’ve been watching Messi’s progress closely.
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