Messi and Spain's Lamine Yamal to face off in World Cup final, recalling 19-year-old charity photo

Argentina and Spain are set to clash in the World Cup final, a meeting that revisits a 2007 charity photoshoot in which a baby Lamine Yamar appeared alongside Lionel Messi. Messi's side secured their place in the final after overturning England in the semi-final, while Spain eliminated France to earn their spot.

Yamar, now a teenager who helped Spain win Euro 2024, succeeded Messi as Barcelona's most prominent La Masia graduate. The original photographs were taken for a calendar produced by the local newspaper Diario Sport in partnership with UNICEF. The images resurfaced when Yamar's father posted them on Instagram during the European tournament two years ago.

"We made the calendar with the help of UNICEF. So UNICEF did a raffle in the neighbourhood of Roca Fonda in Mataró where Lamine's family lived," photographer Joan Monfort told the Associated Press. "They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barca player. And they won the raffle."

Monfort added that Messi, described as introverted and shy, was taken by surprise when he entered a locker room with a plastic tub of water and the infant Yamar, noting that the star initially struggled to hold the baby. Nineteen years later, the two left-footed Barcelona alumni will compete for football's most coveted trophy.