Alerts Sign in
Advertise with Namibia News Now
Back
sports

Messi, Yamal come full circle in World Cup showdown

When Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal line-up against each other in the World Cup final on Sunday it will mark the closing of an incredible full circle moment that has been two decades in the making. In 2007, a 20-year-old Messi and Yamal, born in July of that year, posed together in a photo organised […] The post Messi, Yamal come full circle in World Cup showdown appeared first on The Namibian .

The Namibian18 Jul 2026, 08:03 pm
Messi, Yamal come full circle in World Cup showdown

When Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal line-up against each other in the World Cup final on Sunday it will mark the closing of an incredible full circle moment that has been two decades in the making.

In 2007, a 20-year-old Messi and Yamal, born in July of that year, posed together in a photo organised by Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund), the global agency which provides humanitarian and development to children and mothers worldwide.

Advertise with Namibia News Now

Yamal’s family had entered and won a raffle to pose with a Barcelona player for a 2008 Unicef calendar.

In one photo from the shoot, Messi is seen helping Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, give the smiling five-month-old boy a bath in a blue plastic tub.

“The photographer, Joan Monfort, has said that Lamine Yamal stole Messi’s heart because he was always smiling,” Unicef Catalan’s Laia Ruich said on the organisation’s website.

Advertise with Namibia News Now
Originally published by The Namibian on 18 Jul 2026, 08:03 pm. View original article
Advertise with Namibia News Now