BARCELONA: Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn’t think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal. Now those images of the longhaired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer’s Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about — and gawked about — in the runup to Sunday’s World Cup final, when Messi’s Argentina will play Yamal’s Spain for the biggest trophy in the sport.

Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal will face each other in the World Cup final. This reunion follows a 2007 charity photo where Messi held baby Yamal. Yamal, now a young star, will…

An incredible image has resurfaced of the Argentinian champion holding Spanish star Lamine Yamal when he was a five-month-old baby. This is how it happened.