The photo above is of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, from UNICEF.
Messi was 20 years old and a rising football star at the time, while Yamal was a five-month-old whose family had won a charity competition.
19 years on, the two are about to play on opposite teams in a World Cup final.
Context
The photo was taken in the dressing room at Barcelona’s stadium in Spain, where Messi played at the time.
Yamal’s family had won a raffle to take part in the charity calendar shoot, and his mother stood by as Messi worked out how to hold him.
Since then...
Yamal has grown into one of the most exciting young players in world football.
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He made his debut for Barcelona’s top team as a teenager, following in Messi’s footsteps. He then became the youngest player in history to feature at a European Championship in 2024, aged 16, helping Spain win that tournament.
The 19-year-old now starts as Spain’s right winger, and is widely tipped to inherit Messi’s status as the best player in the world.
World Cup final
While Yamal is playing at his first World Cup with Spain, Messi is playing at his sixth with Argentina.
Now 39, Messi is hoping to help Argentina become just the third team to win back-to-back World Cup titles (Brazil was the last team to do this in 1962.)
The World Cup final will kick off at 5am on Monday 20 July (AEST).
You can watch it on SBS or SBS on Demand.
