For one night, the past and the future of Barcelona’s footballing tradition could stand on the same pitch.
In the summer of 2007, Lionel Messi was a 20-year-old Barcelona player still establishing himself as one of the most gifted young footballers in the world. Lamine Yamal was a six-month-old baby.
During a Unicef charity photoshoot, Messi held the infant and bathed him in a small plastic tub. The photograph, which emerged years later, became one of football’s most remarkable images — not because anyone knew what either of them would become, but precisely because nobody did.
Nearly two decades later, on Sunday, Messi and Yamal will meet on opposite sides of the biggest stage football has to offer: the 2026 World Cup final.
Argentina against Spain. Messi against Yamal.
