"There's no doubt, for me, he's the best." That's Lionel Messi, at an adidas event this week, on Lamine Yamal — and when the man who spent 17 seasons defining Barcelona says something like that without caveats, it carries weight.
Messi was asked to pick one standout from the new generation of footballers. He didn't hesitate. Age, output, trajectory — he cited all three. And with Yamal wearing the No. 10 shirt Messi made iconic at the Camp Nou, the symbolism writes itself.
A story that started in a bathtub in 2007
The connection between these two runs deeper than a jersey number. In 2007, a 20-year-old Messi participated in a UNICEF charity photoshoot at the Camp Nou. The baby he was photographed with — clumsily, by all accounts, given Messi's admission that he barely knew how to hold him — was a six-month-old Lamine Yamal, whose family had won a raffle in their Mataró neighborhood for the privilege.
"Messi didn't even know how to hold him at first," photographer Joan Monfort recalled. "He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated."
Fate, coincidence, or both — take your pick. Fans have called it a "soccer baptism" ever since.
Yamal, for his part, is returning the reverence. At last month's Laureus World Sports Awards — where he picked up Young Sportsperson of the Year, his second consecutive Laureus honor — he said plainly: "For me, Messi is the best player in history." He added that he hopes to follow in his footsteps and earn the same award. Messi has won the top Laureus World Sportsman of the Year prize twice, in 2020 and 2023, the only team-sport athlete ever to do so.
The World Cup is where this could get interesting
There's a practical dimension to all this mutual admiration that betting markets should be watching. Yamal is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury and will miss the rest of La Liga's season — which matters for Barcelona's title push and shifts the risk profile on any Barça-related futures between now and June.
But the 2026 World Cup is where the real storyline emerges. Yamal is expected to return fit and lead Spain as reigning European champions. Argentina, with Messi, are the reigning world champions. A Spain vs. Argentina clash — possible as early as the round of 32 — would put Yamal and Messi on the same pitch together for the first time ever.
Runner-up in the 2025 Ballon d'Or, Barcelona's top scorer and top creator this season, and now getting the public endorsement of the greatest player the club has ever produced. Yamal's odds to win the next Ballon d'Or outright will only shorten if he returns from injury and performs at a World Cup the way he performed at Euro 2024.
"For Lamine to grow up to be a footballer, and to have this photo — I'm just really happy it happened," Monfort said. That photograph is now something else entirely. It's the before picture of one of football's most extraordinary handovers.
