Fathers and children. Version-2024

It is unbelievable but true — Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi took a historic photo almost 17 years ago

After the first semifinal of the UEFA European Football Championship, where the Spanish national team was stronger than the French, it seems that only the lazy did not write that the match outcome was predetermined by the stunning goal by Lamine Yamal. The 16-year-old Spain starlet (Yamal turned 17 on July 13th) scored a sensational goal in the 21st minute of the match from outside the box to secure the 2:1 victory over Les Bleus, which instantly made him the most popular Euro player.

This is how Lamine Yamal went down in history

“I am very happy to have made it to the final. Now, the most important thing is to win the title. We were in a difficult moment, and you would not expect a goal so soon. I wanted to put it in where it went in, and I am very happy. I try not to think about my age too much, just enjoy the game and help the team. And if it works out like this, I am happy and content with the victory. I want to win. I will celebrate my birthday here in Germany with my team,” the young Barcelona midfielder, who was recognised as the best player of the semifinal match of Euro 2024 Spain – France, said at the post-match press conference.
Lamine Yamal set a unique achievement in the match against the French, having become the youngest football player ever to score in the history of the European Championships — 16 years and 362 days. The record previously belonged to Brazilian striker Pelé, who scored at the men’s FIFA World Cup at the age of 17 years and 239 days.
However, one more achievement was set in the semifinals. Spaniard Jesús Navas stepped on the field at the age of 38 years and 231 days and thus became the oldest outfield football player in the history of the Euro semifinals. It is hard to believe it, but he actually played for Sevilla and won the Spanish Super Cup in the year Yamal was born.
That is not all, though. Yamal’s goal has made viral photos featuring none other than Lionel Messi who was helping to bathe baby Lamine and was holding him wrapped in a towel. This is not a fake or a photo montage at all. As it turned out, in 2007, Barcelona players posed with children and their families for a calendar as part of the annual charity event of the local newspaper Diario Sport and UNICEF. Photographer Joan Montfort was in charge of the photo shoots, and it just so happened that Messi was paired with Yamal’s family. “So UNICEF did a raffle in the neighbourhood of Roca Fonda in Mataró where Lamine’s family lived. They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won the raffle,” Montfort recalled. It was not an easy task, mainly because 20-year-old Messi was not sure how to interact with baby Yamal, who was in a plastic bathtub during the photo shoot. “Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he is shy. He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic bathtub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated. He did not even know how to hold him at first.”
On the day when Messi’s goal helped Argentina reach the Copa América final and Yamal’s goal led Spain to victory in the semifinals of the European Championship, old photos got a new life.














By Vladimir Dmitriev