The image was taken when Messi was a 20-year-old Barcelona player and Yamal was an infant. The report says Yamal’s parents entered a UNICEF raffle that offered families the chance to be photographed at Camp Nou with a Barcelona player.
Messi, wearing a white hoodie and shoulder-length hair, was taken into a room near the changing area. A plastic tub of water had been prepared for the baby, while the young forward appeared uncertain in an unfamiliar situation.
Monfort’s memory gives the photograph its human detail. Before the trophies, records and global attention, Messi was simply a reserved young player trying to hold a stranger’s child.
The photograph remained largely unnoticed for years. Its meaning changed after Yamal’s breakthrough for Spain, when his father shared the image with the caption: “the beginning of two legends”.
That phrase now carries remarkable weight. Messi became one of football’s defining figures after emerging at Barcelona, while Yamal, now 19, has developed into one of Spain’s most prominent young players.
The connection is symbolic rather than sporting. Messi did not shape Yamal’s career through that brief encounter, and the two players have followed different paths. Yet the photograph captures a rare moment before either could understand what football would make of them.
Monfort later said discovering who the baby had become was “a very nice feeling”. The image’s second life has provided an emotional backdrop to a final that already carries immense significance.
When Messi and Yamal meet on Monday morning (AEST), the photograph will offer a striking reminder of football’s unpredictability. One frame can preserve the past, but the final will decide what comes next.