In 2007, a young Lionel Messi, then 20, posed for photos with a baby in the Camp Nou dressing room in Barcelona for a charity calendar photoshoot.
Messi, already gaining recognition, would later become arguably the greatest football player of all time.
Little did the photographer know that the baby would also become a notable figure in international football less than 17 years later.
Messi was holding Lamine Yamal, now a 16-year-old sensation in the European Championships.
His goal against France in the semi-final on Tuesday has already become legendary. At 16 years and 362 days old, Yamal became the youngest player to score in the tournament’s history.
The long-forgotten photo of Messi and Yamal resurfaced after Yamal’s father posted it on Instagram with the caption: “The beginning of two legends.”
The photos were taken by Joan Monfort, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press.
Monfort explained that the shoot happened after Unicef held a raffle in Mataró, where Yamal’s family lived.
“They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won the raffle,” Monfort told the Associated Press.
The assignment was challenging, Monfort recalled. “Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he’s shy,” he said.
“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.”
Like Messi, Yamal went on to play for Barcelona, becoming the club’s youngest ever starter and goalscorer, and the youngest scorer in the Spanish league.
Monfort said he only realized the baby was Yamal when the photo went viral last week. “It’s very exciting to be associated with something that has caused such a sensation,” he said. “To tell you the truth it’s a very nice feeling.”
Source-BBC
