In 2007, Lionel Messi was already emerging as one of Barcelona’s brightest young stars. Lamine Yamal, meanwhile, was only a few months old and completely unknown to the football world. Nearly two decades later, photographs of the pair together became one of football’s most remarkable coincidences.
The images show a 20-year-old Messi holding and helping bathe baby Yamal during a photoshoot at Barcelona’s Camp Nou. The meeting was not arranged because of any football connection between the two families. Instead, it happened through a UNICEF charity project and a simple raffle.
How Messi Met Baby Yamal
The photoshoot took place in 2007 as part of a calendar project involving FC Barcelona and UNICEF. Yamal’s family, who were living in Mataró at the time, entered a local raffle for the opportunity to have their child photographed with a Barcelona player.
They won the draw, giving the family a chance to attend the shoot at Camp Nou. Nobody involved could have known that the baby in front of the camera would eventually become one of Barcelona’s biggest young stars.
The Famous Bathtub Photo
Photographer Joan Monfort was responsible for capturing the images. According to Monfort, the idea of having Messi interact with Yamal in a small plastic bathtub came from the photoshoot itself.
Messi was reportedly unfamiliar with handling a baby at the time. Monfort later recalled that the young Argentine had just come out of the dressing room when he suddenly found himself in a room with a baby and a bathtub. Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, helped during the session.
The result was a series of photographs that looked completely ordinary at the time but would become extraordinary years later.
A UNICEF Charity Project
The photos were created for a 2008 UNICEF calendar connected to Barcelona’s charity work. The project featured Barcelona players interacting with children, with part of the calendar’s sales supporting UNICEF initiatives focused on children's rights.
Messi was one of several Barcelona stars involved in the project. Other players included figures such as Ronaldinho, Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto’o.
The purpose was not to predict future football careers but to create a human connection between professional footballers and children while supporting UNICEF’s work.
Why the Photos Were Forgotten
After the photoshoot, there was no obvious reason for the images to become famous. Messi was still at the beginning of his legendary career, while Yamal was simply an infant.
For years, the photographs remained largely unknown to the public. That changed in 2024 when Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, shared one of the images on Instagram as his son began attracting worldwide attention.
He described the photograph as “the beginning of two legends,” helping the old images quickly spread across social media.
Messi and Yamal Took Very Different Paths
The coincidence becomes even more remarkable when considering what happened afterward.
Messi went on to become one of Barcelona’s defining players, winning major domestic and international honors while establishing himself as one of the most celebrated footballers of his generation.
Yamal followed a different but equally extraordinary path. He eventually entered Barcelona’s youth system and developed into a first-team player and Spain international, becoming one of the most prominent young talents in world football.
The fact that both players eventually became associated with Barcelona makes their accidental childhood meeting even more striking.
The Photographer’s Perspective
For Joan Monfort, the significance of the photograph only became clear years later. When the images resurfaced, he initially found it difficult to believe that the baby from the shoot had grown into Yamal, one of football’s most recognizable young players.
Monfort has described the coincidence as extraordinarily unlikely. What began as a routine charity photoshoot eventually produced an image connecting two generations of Barcelona and Spanish football history.
A Photograph That Became More Meaningful With Time
The image is fascinating because neither Messi nor Yamal knew what the future held. Messi was only 20, and Yamal was too young to understand what was happening.
At the time, the photograph was simply part of a charity calendar. Its meaning changed because of everything that happened afterward.
Instead of documenting a famous meeting between two established stars, it captured an accidental encounter between a rising footballer and a baby who would eventually follow him into the world of elite football.
From Childhood Photo to Football History
The photograph gained another layer of significance as Yamal's career developed. Fans began viewing it not merely as an unusual coincidence but as a visual connection between two generations of football talent.
It also became a reminder of how unpredictable sporting history can be. A child selected through a local raffle happened to be photographed with a young Barcelona star, and both eventually became globally recognized names.
Why the Image Became Viral Again
The photograph resurfaced several times as Yamal achieved new milestones. It attracted particularly strong attention during major international tournaments, when comparisons between the young Spanish winger and Messi became more common.
The image became even more remarkable because Yamal eventually grew into a player capable of sharing the same Barcelona environment that Messi had once dominated.
A Remarkable Full-Circle Moment
The 2007 photoshoot was never intended to create a piece of football history. It was a UNICEF charity project involving a young Barcelona player and a family that happened to win a raffle.
Almost 20 years later, the photographs are remembered for something nobody could have predicted: they captured Messi with a baby who would eventually become another major football talent connected to Barcelona.
That is what makes the images so unusual. They were not staged to represent a future rivalry or succession. They simply happened — and history gave them an entirely different meaning.
Overall
The story behind Messi and Lamine Yamal’s famous 2007 photographs is ultimately a story of coincidence. A UNICEF charity calendar brought a 20-year-old Messi together with a five-month-old Yamal after the family won a local raffle.
Photographer Joan Monfort captured the encounter, including the now-famous bathtub image. At the time, nobody could have predicted that both individuals would eventually become major figures in football.
What began as an ordinary charity photoshoot has since become one of the most memorable photographs linking two generations of the sport.
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