Lionel Messi faces Spain's teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal in the 2026 World Cup final, 19 years after their first extraordinary encounter. In 2007, Yamal's parents won a competition to meet a Barcelona player when their son was only five months old. The player was Messi, then 20 and a rising star for both Barcelona and Argentina, who had just defeated England in the World Cup semi-final.
Photographer Recalls the Serendipitous Meeting
Joan Monfort documented the meeting in a series of photographs that resurfaced two years ago, when Yamal helped Spain win Euro 2024. Yamal's father posted one online with the caption, "The beginning of two legends." In the photos, a smiling Messi cradles and bathes a tiny baby boy who would later follow closely in his footballing footsteps.
"It is a true miracle of destiny," Monfort said. "It is serendipity — when you find something extra special, so much bigger than you ever thought. If you wrote this in a film it would not seem possible."
The Photoshoot at Camp Nou
The photoshoot took place in the away dressing room at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium. Yamal's family had won a competition to be there. His parents, Moroccan-born Mounir Nasraoui and Sheila Ebana from Equatorial Guinea, met after moving to Barcelona as children. Yamal is their eldest child, and shortly after he was born, they entered a raffle run by Catalan newspaper Sport in conjunction with Barcelona shirt sponsor Unicef. Those selected at random would have professional photos taken of their baby with a Barcelona first-team player. Yamal was among the winners, and on the day the family arrived, they were paired with Messi by chance.
Monfort recalled: "I had no idea it was Yamal in the photo until one of my friends called me in 2024 and told me his father had posted it to Instagram. Messi is a really introverted guy, very timid and shy. He came into the dressing room and suddenly had to take these photos with a little baby — not even a kid, a proper baby — and his face changed like he had no idea what to do! It is difficult for a young man, but Lamine was a very happy, smiley little baby. His mum Sheila helped us; she was a young girl and they were a very poor family, but they were very nice to work with. Messi was always a professional in these kinds of things and he adapted to the situation very quickly."
Contrasting Career Milestones
Messi still wore number 19 for Barcelona in 2007, only inheriting the number 10 shirt a year later when Ronaldinho left the club. By his 19th birthday, Messi had scored 11 career goals and won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League once each. Having turned 19 on Monday, Yamal has already scored 56 goals and won La Liga three times, the Copa del Rey once, and Euro 2024.
Yamal's Name and Background
Yamal is not the player's surname but the second of his two first names. His full name is Lamine Yamal Naraoui Ebana, and he wears the former two on the back of his shirts for both Barcelona and Spain as an homage to two people who helped his family around the time of his birth. It has been widely reported in Spanish media that Yamal's father promised to name him after two friends who assisted the family financially, helping them pay their bills when money was tight. Lamine is a common male first name in Arabic, meaning honest or trustworthy. Yamal is a variant of Jamal, meaning elegance or beauty.
He grew up in Rocafonda, a working-class neighbourhood in Mataro, 20 miles north of Barcelona. Yamal has celebrated some of his goals by making a 3-0-4 gesture with his fingers, referring to Rocafonda's postcode.
Yamal's Gratitude to His Parents
Yamal told El Pais earlier in the tournament: "What my mother has done, what my father has done, I couldn't have done that for anyone who is not my child. If you don't have money, it's very hard to help your child play football. And my parents managed to make all that happen. It's something I'll never be able to repay them for."
