A version of this article was first published in July 2024.“It was a difficult shot,” photographer Joan Monfort told The Athletic. “We can say I sweated some blood to take it.“Lionel Messi is still shy now. He was much more shy when he was starting out, and he finds himself there with a tiny baby in a plastic bath full of water. At the start, there was not much interaction. It was difficult for all of them. But, bit by bit, it started to happen and in the end, it’s a pretty good photo.”In December 2007, Monfort took a photo of a 20-year-old Messi, who had begun his legendary Barcelona career just over three years earlier, and Lamine Yamal — who was five months old.It was published in a 2008 charity calendar organised by Barcelona’s club foundation and newspaper Diario Sport, with the money raised going to UNICEF and other charities around Catalonia.As part of a yearly initiative back then, members of the Barcelona squad were photographed alongside children. Hundreds of families collaborated and most of the photos have now been forgotten, beyond the treasured private memories of those who took part.It just so happens that Yamal, Barca’s star of the future, was paired with Messi, who would go on to win the Ballon d’Or eight times.The bathing photo, as well as a number of other images from the shoot, including one where Messi is seen cradling a baby Yamal in a towel, and another where Yamal’s mother Sheila Ebana helps wash her son, returned to public view during the European Championship of 2024, when Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, shared it on social media.