There are images that the passage of time turns into history… And then there’s this one. In 2007, a 20-year-old Lionel Messi, still far from becoming the best footballer of his generation, posed for a photo shoot organized by UNICEF at the Camp Nou. In one of the snapshots she appears holding a baby in her arms… That child was called Lamine Yamal.
Nineteen years later, the photograph has taken on a meaning almost impossible to imagine: this Sunday, July 19, Messi and Lamine face each other in the World Cup final, with the Argentine defending the Argentina shirt and the young talent leading Spain.
A RAFFLE CHANGED HISTORY
The scene took place thanks to a UNICEF solidarity initiative. The organization held a raffle among families from the Rocafonda neighborhood, in Mataró, to participate in a photo session with an FC Barcelona player. As luck would have it, the winner was Lamine Yamal’s family.
Thus, Messi went to the Camp Nou to pose with a newborn he did not know. The person in charge of immortalizing the moment was Joan Monfort, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press (AP).
Years later, Monfort recalled in an interview with The Athletic that the session was not easy. Messi was extremely shy and didn’t quite know how to hold the baby for the photograph. No one could have imagined that that image would end up going around the world almost two decades later.
SYMBOLIC BAPTISM
Photography today seems to be a perfect metaphor for football’s generational change. It shows the man who would end up being considered by many the best player in history, supporting who aims to be one of the great references of the next era. And it all happened at the Camp Nou. A coincidence that is hard to believe.
What could be Lionel Messi’s last World Cup match will be precisely a final against that baby he held in his arms in 2007. Sometimes, football writes stories that seem too perfect to have been the product of chance.
