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A photograph taken nearly two decades ago has resurfaced as Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal prepare to face each other on soccer's biggest stage.
Ahead of Sunday's FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, an image of Messi bathing a baby Yamal has drawn renewed attention across social media.
The extraordinary sequence of events has been described online as a "one-in-625-trillion coincidence," although the figure is based on an informal probability calculation circulating on social media rather than a verified statistical analysis.
The photograph shows Messi, then 20 years old, with an infant Yamal during a bath-themed charity photoshoot. It resurfaced publicly after Argentina's win over England in the semifinal, which set up Sunday's final against Spain.
Yamal's father, Mounir Nasraoui, first shared a behind-the-scenes image from the shoot on Instagram in July 2024, captioning the post, "The beginning of two legends."
The image was taken in 2007 by photographer Joan Monfort as part of a charity calendar produced by the FC Barcelona Foundation in association with the newspaper Sport.
The calendar launched in 2008, with half of its proceeds directed toward projects supporting children's rights. Other players who took part included Xavi Hernandez, Ronaldinho, Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto'o.
Monfort told ESPN in 2024 that each month of the calendar paired a first-team footballer with a child from Catalonia, with parents able to enter their children through a draw.
He said the project aimed to highlight social issues facing children and families, describing an effort to capture natural interactions between players and children during the shoots.
Messi and Yamal were selected for the calendar's January page. Monfort said the idea of photographing Messi bathing the infant was his own, intended to help the pair interact, and that Yamal's mother assisted during the shoot.
The photograph went largely unnoticed for years before Nasraoui's 2024 Instagram post brought it back into public view.
Yamal has followed a trajectory similar to Messi's since the photograph was taken. Both progressed through FC Barcelona's La Masia academy before making their first-team debuts as teenagers, and both are left-footed forwards who began their professional careers at a young age.
In December 2024, Messi was asked which player reminded him most of himself.
"If I have to choose someone, because of the age and because of the future that he has, I've heard that they have chosen Lamine Yamal, and without doubt, it's him for me too," Messi said, adding that Yamal represented "the present" with "a huge future" ahead of him.
There is no public record of the two players meeting in person since the 2007 shoot, according to available reporting. Ahead of Sunday's final, Yamal told a reporter, "I'd love to face Messi in a World Cup final."
Argentina and Spain advanced to Sunday's final after separate runs through the tournament. The match is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET at New York-New Jersey Stadium.
Whether the final marks Messi's last World Cup appearance remains unclear. For many observers, the match carries added significance beyond the result itself, linking two players through a single photograph taken when one was an established star and the other an infant.
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