Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal. Image via: APLionel Messi and Lamine Yamal will face off for the first time on a football pitch this Sunday, but the two have actually known each other for nearly 19 years, and a photo from their original meeting has resurfaced ahead of the World Cup final. Argentina booked its spot with a 2-1 comeback win over England, setting up a generational showdown against Spain's teenage phenom. What makes the matchup remarkable is that Messi and Yamal already share a strange, documented history dating back to when Yamal was still an infant.Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal's connection began at Camp Nou in 2007The story starts with a charity calendar. In the fall of 2007, UNICEF and the Catalan newspaper Diario Sport organized a raffle giving local families in Catalonia the chance to have their photo taken with an FC Barcelona player inside Camp Nou. Yamal's family, living in the town of Mataró at the time, won a slot. His mother, Sheila Ebana, brought her 5-month-old son to the stadium, where he was paired with a 20-year-old Messi, then still establishing himself as one of Barcelona's rising stars.Check out the viral photo here–Photographer Joan Monfort, who shot the session, later told the Associated Press that Messi was notably reserved during the encounter. Monfort described Messi as introverted and said he initially struggled with the setup, having walked into a locker room to find a plastic bathtub filled with water and a baby waiting inside.Why the photo went viral in 2024The images sat largely forgotten until the summer of 2024, when Yamal was breaking out as a teenager during Spain's European Championship run. Nasraoui posted one of the shots on Instagram, writing that it marked "the beginning of two legends." Fans initially assumed the photo had to be AI-generated, given the surreal setup and the odds involved, but the AP confirmed its authenticity and released additional images from the same shoot.What happens next between Messi and YamalThe two have never played against each other, and Sunday's final will be their first meeting on a football pitch. Yamal has since become the youngest player to score a World Cup goal since Pelé, and Messi has openly praised his younger counterpart's trajectory, saying of Yamal, "there's no doubt, for me he's the best." When Yamal was shown the old photo again after Spain's semifinal win over France, he smiled and said, "I hope to face him in a final."Nearly two decades after that bathtub photo shoot inside Camp Nou, the two will finally share a pitch, this time with a World Cup trophy on the line instead of a rubber duck.