Baby picture of Lamine Yamal and young Lionel Messi resurfaces after almost 17 years

When Joan Monfort took images of Lionel Messi with a child for a charity calendar practically 17 years earlier, he understood the long-haired young man would succeed in soccer.

He might not have actually thought of the little kid would too.

The child in the images was none aside from young Spanish star Lamine Yamal who, at 16, is revealing such pledge for Messi’s previous Barcelona club that he’s currently being compared to the greats himself.

He ended up being the youngest gamer ever in the continuous Euro 2024 in Germany and has actually signed up 2 helps for Spain throughout the competition, consisting of in the opening objective of Spain’s significant 2-1 quarterfinals win over the host Germans.

Monfort took a photo that now looks like the future and previous legends of soccer.

The long-forgotten picture from 2007 resurfaced after Yamal’s dad published it on Instagram recently with the text “the beginning of two legends.”

Monfort, 56, who works as a freelance professional photographer for The Associated Press and others, stated the picture shoot occurred in the visitors’ locker space at Barcelona’s Camp Nou in the fall of 2007, when Yamal was simply a couple of months old.

Barcelona gamers positioned with kids and their households for a calendar as part of a yearly charity drive by regional paper Diario Sport and UNICEF. Monfort supervised of the picture shoots — and it so took place that Messi was coupled with Yamal’s household. His mom, who is from Equatorial Guinea, is beside Messi and the child in among the images.

“We made the calendar with the help of UNICEF. So UNICEF did a raffle in the neighborhood of Roca Fonda in Mataró where Lamine’s family lived. 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 stated.

It wasn’t a simple task, he remembered, primarily due to the fact that Messi wasn’t sure how to engage with child Lamine, who remained in a plastic tub for the shoot.

“Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he’s shy,” Monfort stated. “He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated. He didn’t even know how to hold him at first.”

Messi was 20 at the time and fresh into his Barcelona profession, was currently thought about a huge skill, however it would take a number of years before he made his mark as the most exceptional gamer of his generation for Barcelona and Argentina. Messi’s Argentina side is now 2 wins far from winning the 2024 Copa América, which would be its 3rd straight significant worldwide competition title.

Speed barks after being fooled into viewing Messi highlights rather of Ronaldo

Speed barks after being tricked into watching Messi highlights instead of Ronaldo

Like Messi, Yamal has actually gone through Barcelona’s distinguished La Masia youth academy. Despite his age, he’s been among Spain’s finest gamers at Euro 2024, where his group will play France in the semifinals on Tuesday (3 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App). Yamal will turn 17 on Saturday, the day before the last in Berlin.

Monfort, 56, had no concept it was Yamal in those images from 2007 till a buddy messaged him as they began trending online.

He’s had a long profession as a sports professional photographer considering that 1991, following Barcelona worldwide, however stated he’s never ever experienced this level of enjoyment around any of his images.

“It’s very exciting to be associated with something that has caused such a sensation,” he stated. “To tell you the truth it’s a very nice feeling.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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