Just before the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, one photo tells the whole story: 20-year-old Lionel Messi, still a young star at the start of his Barcelona career, bathes a five-month-old baby in a plastic tub. The baby's name: Lamine Yamal. Almost 19 years later, the two will meet for the first time as rivals on the pitch, and not in an ordinary match but in the World Cup final. Messi will try to lead Argentina to a second straight title, while Yamal aims to complete his transformation from a rare talent into one of the world's biggest stars and bring the trophy back to Spain.

The photo was taken in December 2007 for a 2008 calendar produced by the Barcelona Foundation and the Catalan newspaper Sport. Club players posed with children, and proceeds went to UNICEF and other charities across Catalonia. Hundreds of families took part, and most images faded from memory over the years, remaining mainly as private keepsakes for parents and children. In one case, an unbelievable coincidence linked what would become one of the greatest players in history with the child who would grow into the next star of Barcelona and Spain.

Behind the camera stood Catalan photographer Joan Monfort, who said the shoot was far from simple. It was a difficult session, he recalled. Messi was shy even then, but at the beginning of his career he was much more reserved. Suddenly he found himself facing a tiny baby in a plastic tub filled with water. At first there was almost no interaction between them. It was tough for everyone, but gradually things began to flow and in the end a pretty good picture emerged.

Messi was only 20 at the time. He had already won two Spanish titles and a Champions League with Barcelona, yet he remained a young talent in a squad packed with established stars including Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Thierry Henry.

Monfort explained that connecting a young player with an unfamiliar baby was especially complex. Sometimes players arrive and say let's get this done quickly, I'm in a hurry, he noted. But with a shoot like this you have to take your time. It can feel a bit cold, especially when creating interaction between two strangers, and when one is a baby and the other is 20 it becomes even harder.

Helping create the moment was Yamal's mother, Sheila Abana. She traveled with her son from Mataro to Camp Nou, about 40 kilometers away, and waited until the shoot was ready and the player arrived. The mother's presence was essential so the baby would not feel everything was too strange, Monfort said. We were looking for a delicate, sweet and pleasant image.

During the session Messi was photographed not only bathing Yamal but also holding him wrapped in a towel. Another image shows the child's mother assisting during the bath. The photographer made sure every family received copies of the photos as keepsakes. While players did not always attach special importance to them, for the parents it was an emotional event, he added.

At the time no one could have known where the subjects would end up. Messi had not yet won his first Ballon d'Or of the eight he would later claim, and Yamal was an unknown infant more than six years before he began regularly traveling from Mataro to Barcelona's academy training. Today Yamal is seen as the closest thing to the Argentine's successor at the club where Messi spent 21 years and became a legend.

The images stayed out of the public eye for more than 15 years. They resurfaced during Euro 2024 when Yamal's father, Mounir Nasraoui, posted them on social media. Monfort himself did not initially recognize who the baby was. A former colleague from Sport called and asked if it was his photo, he recalled. I said yes. He sent it to me and I asked who the baby was. He started laughing and said Lamine, Lamine.

Since then the photo has become a global phenomenon. Ahead of the final between Spain and Argentina it has again spread across millions of accounts and been presented as the perfect symbol of generational change in football. It is something inconceivable, Monfort said. Back then no one could have imagined that this baby would become who he is today, and it was also impossible to know that Messi would become what he has become. We are talking about 2007, when Messi was just starting his path at Barcelona. Fate plays an important role in these things.

The chance that the randomly chosen child in the charity project would become a global star and meet Messi in a World Cup final was almost zero, he added. This is a one-in-a-million opportunity. The odds that all of this would happen were like winning the lottery.

The photographer even compared the image to other historic photos that gained new meaning only years later, such as the picture of a 15-year-old Pep Guardiola, then a La Masia youth and ball boy at Barcelona, applauding Terry Venables after the team's qualification for the 1986 European Cup final.

For Monfort there is no doubt this is the most important photograph of his career. It is by far the most famous photo I have taken in my life, he said. So many people have been interested in it, and now again during the World Cup. If Lamine continues to develop as he is developing, the image will become even more historic.

He added with a smile that the massive exposure has not made him rich. It was like winning the lottery, even though it did not set me up financially for life. For him, the innocence in the photo gives it its power. I am simply happy that it happened, he said. It is especially beautiful in today's football, where so many things are tied to money and power.

On Sunday at MetLife Stadium the innocent photo will turn into a real sporting story. Messi, at age 39, will try to add another title to a career that already includes almost every possible achievement. Opposite him will stand Yamal, the face of a new generation, born years after Messi had already begun his journey with Barcelona's senior team.

No matter who lifts the trophy, the December 2007 photograph has already secured its place in history: a moment when the past and future of football met in a plastic tub, long before anyone could understand what they were seeing.