Lionel Messi has described Lamine Yamal as one of the planet’s best young players ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final. The Barcelona stars past and present will come face-to-face tomorrow evening, with their performances likely to be key to the destination of sport’s most coveted prize, despite being at polar opposite ends of their careers.
Messi's praise for Yamal
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the showpiece occasion, Messi said: 'Lamine is a great player, and I follow him a lot because he plays for a club I love. I always wish him all the best — no doubts that he’s among the best in the world. We’ll try to play a great match, but I hope he and his team don’t have their best day.'
Yamal already has a European Championship winners’ medal among his growing collection of honours and will hope to complete the international double while still a teenager. Messi, by contrast, had to wait until the latter stages of his career before he began winning with Argentina, but could potentially sign off in grand manner were he to inspire his team to back-to-back triumphs.
The iconic baby photo resurfaces
Given the collision course they are on, the iconic photo of Messi bathing Yamal as a child began to resurface almost from the moment Argentina secured their comeback win against England. Messi was a 20-year-old rising star at Barcelona when he posed for a picture with a six-month-old Yamal. The astonishing coincidental meeting took place in 2007 through a raffle organised by Diario Sport, the Spanish sports newspaper, to raise funds for Unicef, which was then a sponsor of Barcelona.
'That picture with Lamine, it’s something crazy,' said Messi. 'Life is full of surprises! Now we are facing each other in a final after a photo was taken of us when he was a baby, it’s just insane!'
Yamal's fitness and Spain's preparations
Yamal, a central figure in Spain’s semi-final win over France, had been a slight doubt ahead of the final along with right-back Pedro Porro, who scored the goal that put Tuesday’s game against Les Bleus to bed. 'Both Lamine Yamal and Pedro Porro are fine for the final… they trained normally,' confirmed Spain boss Luis de la Fuente.
Asked about the comparisons between Messi and his likely heir apparent as the world’s best player, de la Fuente added: 'Lamine Yamal has to be Lamine Yamal. Leo is a unique, one of a kind player. An example, a role model. Lamine has to be Lamine. We’ll support him.'
Argentina's plan to stop Yamal
Stopping Yamal will no doubt be central to Argentina’s game plan, but head coach Lionel Scaloni admits doing so is easier said than done. 'I wish we could lock Lamine in his room!' he said. 'He’s a fantastic player, a treasure for football, he’s still so very young, with so much more to offer to our game.'
