Barcelona photographer Joan Monfort took photos in 2007 as part of a charity calendar produced by local newspaper Sport and UNICEF showing a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a baby boy in a plastic bathtub. That baby was Lamine Yamal, who will face Messi's Argentina in Sunday's World Cup final. Monfort, who works as a freelance photojournalist for the Associated Press, told the AP from his home in Barcelona on Friday that he is beginning to have his doubts about whether anything is destined to occur, saying this is beyond all reasonable explanations. The longhaired Messi appears in the images with his hands covered in soap suds.
Yamal's mother won a raffle of families in the city of Mataró, near Barcelona, who wanted to participate in the charity calendar shoot. The 19-year-old Yamal will face the 39-year-old Messi, who is 20 years his senior. Monfort had no recollection of the photos until Yamal's father posted one on social media during the 2024 European Championship. Interest in his photos has skyrocketed with the World Cup final approaching. Monfort, 58, said his heart is split between wanting Messi or Yamal to win, calling Messi the best player of all time while saying Yamal has broken the mold and represents a new, diverse Spain thanks to his parents from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea.