Lamine Yamal is the player taking the 2024 Euro Championship by storm, he is the central figure in Spain’s campaign in the tournament in which they have won all their six matches in their march to the final on Sunday.
Yamal’s wonder goal against France in the semi-final on Tuesday remained a topic of discussion and fans agree that the only other player that curly in that kind shot would be Lionel Messi.
Yamal born of a Moroccan father and Equatorial Guinean mother became the youngest player at 16 to ever score in the Euro Championship.
When he was a baby in 2007, his parents won a ticket from a raffle draw by UNICEF to have their baby at the Nou Camp for an opportunity to have photoshoot with the Argentine soccer star.
Messi who was 20 years of age then was already making a name for himself at Barcelona FC.
Baby Yamal was bathed by Messi and unknown to the his parents and every other person present at the occasion, Yamal, 17 years later would rise to international stardom.
The long-forgotten photo of Messi and Yamal resurfaced after Yamal’s father posted it on Instagram last week with the text: “The beginning of two legends.”
The photos were taken by Joan Monfort, who works as a freelance photographer for the Associated Press.
“Yamal’s parents signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won the raffle,” Mr Monfort told the Associated Press.
The assignment wasn’t a straightforward one, the photographer said.
“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, where he became the club’s youngest ever starter and goalscorer, as well as the youngest scorer in the Spanish league.
Mr Monfort said it was only when the photo started going viral online last week that he realised that the baby was Yamal.
“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.” With BBC reports
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