Messi Talks Lamine Yamal: the Messi Yamal Viral Photo that has taken over football conversation ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final. Speaking Friday at Fanatics Fest in New York, Messi called the resurfaced 2007 image “insane,” breaking his silence on a picture that now feels less like a coincidence and more like foreshadowing.
The photo dates back to autumn 2007, when freelance photographer Joan Monfort organized a charity calendar shoot inside Barcelona’s Camp Nou dressing room. A 20-year-old Messi, already emerging as one of the club’s brightest young talents, posed with a six-month-old Lamine Yamal as part of the annual fundraising campaign. Monfort has since said he sensed Messi’s future stardom at the time but had no idea the baby in his lens would one day become a global star himself. The image sat largely unnoticed for years until Yamal’s father shared it on Instagram in 2024, captioning it “the beginning of two legends,” a post that sent the photo viral for the first time.
Despite the photo’s growing fame, both players stayed quiet on it publicly until this week. That changed Friday when former NFL quarterback Tom Brady asked Messi about it directly during a live appearance at Fanatics Fest. Messi responded that the photo’s existence felt crazy, since it was taken when Yamal was just a baby, and now the two of them are meeting in a World Cup final. In a separate interview shared by DSports, Messi called the whole situation insane, reflecting on how a photograph from nearly two decades ago has taken on brand-new meaning this week.
Beyond the photo itself, Messi Yamal Viral Photo coverage has also captured Messi’s genuine admiration for the player he’ll face Sunday. He described Yamal as a fantastic player he follows closely, largely because Yamal plays for Barcelona, the club Messi represented for 21 years before leaving in 2021. Messi added that Barcelona is fortunate to have Yamal, framing his success as good for the club regardless of Sunday’s outcome. He also acknowledged the historic opportunity in front of Yamal, who could become the second-youngest starter ever to win a World Cup final, while adding, only half-jokingly, that he hopes Yamal and Spain don’t have their best game when it matters most.
The photo’s renewed relevance hasn’t gone unnoticed by UNICEF, the organization behind the original 2007 charity shoot. In a post shared this week, UNICEF confirmed the authenticity of the viral images, noting that Yamal and his mother, Sheila, met Messi at the fundraising photoshoot more than 18 years ago. The organization highlighted that both players have gone on to become UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors themselves, using their platforms to advocate for children worldwide, a detail that adds another layer to a story already built on full-circle symbolism.
Even Yamal’s own teammates have found the photo hard to process. Spain midfielder Mikel Merino said his first reaction upon seeing it was assuming it had been generated by AI, calling it unbelievable that two of the best players in the world share a picture like that from decades earlier. Merino added that he hopes Sunday’s final lives up to the moment, with both Messi and Yamal playing their best in front of a global audience. Yamal himself, who has grown up idolizing Messi, has yet to publicly address the photo directly, leaving Messi’s comments as the only word from either side of the viral moment so far.
Messi enters Sunday tied with Kylian Mbappé atop the tournament’s Golden Boot race with eight goals, and a win would make him the first captain to lift back-to-back World Cup titles. Yamal, meanwhile, has a chance to write his own piece of history as one of the youngest players to start and win a World Cup final. Kickoff is Sunday, July 19 at 3 p.m. ET on Fox. For the full video of Messi’s comments to Tom Brady, Fox Sports’ complete report has the exchange in full, while ESPN’s coverage of the moment includes additional reaction from Merino and the wider Spain camp.
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