BARCELONA, Spain — When Joan Monfort photographed Lionel Messi with a baby for a charity calendar nearly 17 years ago, he knew the long-haired youngster would make it big in soccer.
He mightn’t have imagined that the little baby would do it too.
The baby in the photos, which went viral, is none other than Lamine Yamal, the Spanish child prodigy, who at 16 years old is showing such promise that he is already being compared to the greats. He was the youngest player to play for Spain, and became the youngest to play in the European Championship in Germany.
The previously forgotten photo from 2007 resurfaced following Yamal’s father posted it on Instagram last week with the caption: “the beginning of two legends.”
Monfort, 56, who works as a freelance photographer for The Associated Press and other agencies, said the photo shoot took place in the visitors’ locker room at Barcelona’s Camp Nou in the fall of 2007, when Yamal was just a few months old.
The Barcelona players posed with young children and their families for a calendar as part of charity activities by local newspaper Diario Sport and UNICEF. Monfort was responsible for the photo shoot, and it just so happened that Messi had been paired up with Yamal’s family. His mother, who is originally from Equatorial Guinea, is next to Messi and the baby in one of the photos.
“We made the calendar with the help of UNICEF. So UNICEF held a draw in the Roca Fonda neighbourhood of Mataró, where Lamine’s family lived. They signed up for the draw to have their photo taken at Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won,” said Monfort.
It was no easy task, he recalled, mainly because Messi was unsure how to interact with baby Lamine, who was in a plastic tub during the session.
“Messi is a very introverted guy, it’s embarrassing,” said Monfort. “He was just leaving the locker room and suddenly he found himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby inside. It was complicated. At first I didn’t even know how to hold him.”
At the time Messi was 20 years old and already considered a huge talent, but it would be a couple of years before he made his mark as the standout player of his generation at Barcelona and Argentina.
Like Messi, Yamal came through the revamped youth system at Barcelona’s La Masia. Despite his age, he has been one of Spain’s best players at Euro 2024, where his team will play France in the semi-finals on Tuesday. Yamal will turn 17 on Saturday, the day before the final in Berlin.
Monfort had no idea it was Yamal in those 2007 photos until a friend messaged her when they started trending online.
He has had a long career as a sports photographer since 1991, following Barcelona around the world, but said he had never experienced this level of excitement around any of his photographs.
“It’s very exciting to be associated with something that has caused such a sensation,” he said. “To be honest, it’s a very nice feeling.”