Lionel Messi has described his remarkable reunion with Spain youngster Lamine Yamal in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final as “crazy,” nearly 19 years after the Argentine star first met him as a baby.

Messi will lead defending champions Argentina against Spain on Sunday, July 19, at the New York-New Jersey Stadium, in a final featuring two generations of Barcelona talent.

Interest in the encounter intensified after photographs showing Messi holding and bathing an infant Yamal during a 2007 charity photoshoot resurfaced online.

“I did the photo when he was a baby, and to face him in the World Cup, it’s crazy,” Messi said during an appearance at Fanatics Fest on Friday.

USA Today Sports reported that Messi appeared alongside Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez and coach Lionel Scaloni at the event. Spain captain Rodri and coach Luis de la Fuente were also present.

The photographs were taken when Messi was a young Barcelona player. The club had organized a charity calendar project involving local families and its players to raise money for UNICEF.

Yamal’s family was selected through a raffle, and the five-month-old was paired with Messi, who was 20 at the time. The resulting photographs showed Messi carrying the baby and helping Yamal’s mother bathe him in a small plastic tub.

The pictures attracted widespread attention in 2024 after Yamal’s father shared one of them on Instagram while the teenager was representing Spain at the European Championship.

Yamal subsequently became the youngest goalscorer in European Championship history and contributed four assists as Spain lifted the title. He had earlier risen through Barcelona’s famous youth academy before making his senior debut in 2023 at the age of 15.

Messi, who spent the first 17 years of his professional career at Barcelona, said Yamal had established himself among the world’s leading players and possessed the talent to create his own football history.

However, the Argentina captain made it clear that his team would do everything possible to prevent the Spanish youngster from achieving that goal in Sunday’s final.

The match presents a striking full-circle moment: Messi, one of football’s most decorated players, will attempt to retain the World Cup against Yamal, the baby he held during a charity photoshoot almost two decades ago