It was 2007.
Lionel Messi was twenty years old. Lamine Yamal was five months old, sitting in a small blue plastic tub, getting a bath.
The context was a UNICEF calendar shoot. The location, Barcelona. The outcome, a photo that has now gone viral again. Why? Because on Sunday, the two men will face each other in the 2026 FIFA World cup final.
Messi, 39, captaining Argentina. Yamal, 19, the star winger for Spain.
It’s a strange, surreal loop. One player trying to win a fourth title. The other aiming for his country’s second. Spain won its first back in 2010. Argentina last won in 2022 after dispatching England 2-1 in the semis.
Now, the world is looking back at that bathtub photo to see if they saw it coming.
The Viral Resurfacing
Unicef posted the image on social media recently. The caption was brief. The image spoke louder.
Messi on the left. Yamal’s mother, Sheila Eballa Ebana, in the center. Current Barcelona star Yamal on the right, dripping wet and grinning.
The internet soaked it up. Quickly.
“That photo is incredible,” Messi said, according to Lizzy Becherano at ESPN. “I took a picture with him when he was baby… the fact that we’re both playing in the World Cup now is just crazy.”
Did Yamal look up at the twenty-year-old Messi and say, “See you in the World Cup Final in nineteen years?” Probably not. He was an infant. But the coincidence is stark.
A Raffle, Not a Rivalry
This wasn’t a premonition. It was a raffle.
The shoot happened in 2007 for the 2008 FC Barcelona and UNiceF calendar. Yamal’s family won a contest to pose with a Barcelona player. They drew Messi.
He was a rising star then. Not the GOAT debate-dominating legend he is now. But the face on the January 2008 page. 50 percent of the sales went to UNICEF projects supporting children’s rights.
Did baby Yamal steal anything that day? No ball. No jersey.
Laia Ruich of UNICEF Catalan told the photographer, Joan Monfort, that Yamal “stole Messi’s heart because he was always smiling.”
That smile has since won over millions of fans. It’s the same smile now.
From Goodwill to Ambassador
Messi didn’t just pose for a calendar. He worked for UNICEF.
He became a supporter in 2004. Then a Goodwill Ambassador in 2010. Shortly after, he went to Haiti. Right after the 7.0 earthquake.
The star power of an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner brings eyes to problems that often go unseen. Health. Welfare. Children.
Yamal has now joined him. At nineteen years old, the newest UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
If the infant Yamal had said “We will meet again,” he was right. Again and again.
They met in 2007 for a photo. They meet this Sunday in a stadium filled with noise.
The tub is gone. The calendar is dusty. The stakes are higher than a charity shoot.
Spain vs Argentina. Messi vs Yamal.
Will the smile hold? Or will it crack under the pressure of the biggest game in the world?
We’ll see on Sunday.
