The story of Lamine Yamal’s is interesting to review. Because, it turns out that the Spanish wonderkid at Euro 2024 was bathed by Lionel Messi when he was still a baby.
That moment occurred in 2007 when Lamine Yamal was around 5 months old, while Lionel Messi was 20 years old and part of Barcelona’s first team.
In the photos that have gone viral on the internet, it is clear that a young Lionel Messi, still with long hair, is bathing little Lamine Yamal with his father and mother. At first glance, the photo looks like it was engineered or made by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
However, Yamal’s father confirmed the authenticity of the photo that La Pulga – Lionel Messi’s nickname, had indeed bathed the Spanish wonderkid. But not just any bathing, apparently the moment was part of an annual calendar photo shoot published in the past by SPORT.
According to Barca Blaugranes, during the making of the calendar, Barcelona players at that time, including Lionel Messi, took a photo shoot with the children of XICS members de Santa Coloma de Gramenet. This is one of the after school activities of XICS in the Santa Rosa neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain.
This photo shoot between Barca players and XICS children was part of a charity activity. At that time, 35 thousand copies of the calendar containing the results of this photo shoot were printed and then sold for 4.5 euros or around Rp. 79 thousand.
All proceeds from the sales were then donated to various charities, especially XICS, an agency founded by the Barcelona team and UNICEF. However, it is not known whether Lamine Yamal is a student of XICS or not.
But apart from that, it seems that his experience of being bathed by Lionel Messi has made Yamal follow in the star’s footsteps. How come? At the age of 16, Lamine Yamal was able to break into Barcelona’s main squad.
This player, who was born in Esplugues de Llobregat, 13 July 2007, immediately became a mainstay on Barcelona’s front line under the tutelage of Xavi Hernandez. His speed, dribbling, stabbing and ability to score goals are extraordinary for a player who is not yet 17 years old.
His extraordinary performance in the team then made Yamal enter the Spanish national team squad for EURO 2024. He even became an important actor in bringing La Furia Roja through to the semifinals.
In total, Lamine Yamal appeared in all EURO 2024 matches. His statistics were also very good, where he successfully contributed 3 assists which brought victory for the Matador Team.
Seeing this, it is natural that Lamine Yamal is said to be Lionel Messi’s successor at Barcelona and will be a future player for the Spanish National Team for the EURO and World Cup in the future.
