The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning! Don’t play back today. Coming up:
Triumphs: Another late salvo leads Messi back to YamalThe entire arc of yesterday’s stunning World Cup developments can be told through three images. Let’s start with the one I still can’t quite believe exists:Diario Sport / Joan MonfortThat’s a 20-year-old Lionel Messi, posing with a baby in 2007 for a calendar photo shoot. This was common practice at the time, and hundreds of children (and their families) participated in the process. The baby in the photo above: Lamine Yamal, who Messi will face Sunday in the World Cup final. The staggering odds of the image are hard to fathom. Does Michael Jordan have a photo cradling a baby LeBron James? Jack Nicklaus with Tiger Woods? Martina Navratilova with Serena Williams? No, no and no. No matter what happens Sunday, the photo will be iconic. We have more backstory on the photo here. Our next image also features the now-39-year-old Messi, from yesterday:
A closer look at this exchange between superstars Leo Messi and Jude Bellingham in the FIFA World Cup Semifinals pic.twitter.com/2Np6CSNNzH
