Yamal's Message to Messi After the Final
Lamine Yamal has revealed the words he spoke to Lionel Messi after Spain defeated Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final in New York last summer. The Barcelona teenager met Messi on the pitch for the first time and the two had a brief conversation after the final whistle. Yamal said he thanked Messi for everything he had given to football, adding that his gesture came from within and was not done for appearance's sake.[S1]
The Story Behind the Bath Tub Photograph
Yamal also discussed the well-known picture of him and Messi taken for a charity calendar, which shows Messi with Yamal as a baby in a bath tub. The Barcelona star explained that the image only became public recently because he had asked his father not to share it. According to Yamal, his father once posted it on Facebook and he requested its removal, fearing that comparisons would dominate and that people would talk only about Messi. Yamal stated that he wanted to be known as himself rather than as Messi, and that he asked his father to wait until he had established his own identity before doing as he wished with the photo.[S1]
