Lionel Messi has described the photograph of himself bathing a five-month-old Lamine Yamal as “insane”, a verdict delivered with the same mixture of disbelief and amusement that has gripped the football world in the days before the World Cup final. Speaking at a FIFA fan event in New York on Friday, the Argentina captain told the former NFL quarterback Tom Brady that the image, taken for a UNICEF charity calendar in 2007, had acquired a significance no one could have foreseen. “I took a picture with him when he was a baby, and now we’re facing each other in a World Cup final,” Messi said. “It’s just insane.” The photograph, shot by the freelance photographer Joan Monfort in the away dressing room at Camp Nou, shows a shy 20-year-old Messi awkwardly holding the infant Yamal in a plastic bathtub. The child’s family had won a raffle organised by the Barcelona foundation and the Catalan daily Sport; the player assigned to them was, by chance, the young Argentine already being touted as the club’s next great talent. For years the image remained obscure, until Yamal’s father posted it on social media during Euro 2024, transforming it into a symbol of succession.

Viewed from Buenos Aires, the coincidence has been absorbed into a broader narrative of Argentine exceptionalism, with commentators noting that Messi’s own World Cup debut in 2006 came at the age of 19 — the same age at which Yamal now carries Spain’s attack. Spanish media, meanwhile, have framed the encounter as a passing of the torch, with the Barcelona daily Sport calling the final “the match that unites two eras”. In the United States, the late-night host Jimmy Fallon mined the story for a mock conspiracy theory, linking the number 19 — the age of both players at their first World Cup, the shirt number each wore as a teenager, and the date of the final, 19 July — to suggest the tournament had been scripted. UNICEF itself issued a statement confirming the photo’s authenticity, noting that both men are now ambassadors for the organisation.

Messi’s praise for his young opponent was effusive but carefully bounded by competitive intent. “He’s one of the best in the world right now, without doubt, and I wish him a lot of luck because what’s good for him will be good for Barcelona,” he said, before adding: “We’ll try to play a good match so that he doesn’t have his best version.” The Argentine, who has scored eight goals in the tournament, is seeking to become the first captain to lift the trophy in consecutive editions, while Yamal could become the second-youngest player to start and win a final. The match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will be the first competitive meeting between the reigning European and South American champions since the cancellation of the planned Finalissima earlier this year.

For Monfort, the photographer who captured the image, the reunion has taken on an almost mystical quality. “I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts,” he told the Associated Press. “This is beyond all reasonable explanations.” The final, he said, was “better than any film script”. The same might be said of the photograph itself, which has now been viewed by hundreds of millions and will frame the pre-match narrative when the two teams walk out on Sunday.