India, July 16 -- In 2007, one of Lionel Messi's many off-field obligations for his then club FC Barcelona included a photoshoot with a lottery winner. As part of a UNICEF (the club's shirt sponsor at the time) raffle, the 20-year-old Argentine, in his days of shoulder-length hair, posed with a baby sitting in a bathtub with bubbly water.

That baby is 19 years old now and wears the No. 19 jersey for Spain. That baby is Lamine Yamal.

The photograph, lost in the endless bounds of the internet, resurfaced in 2024 when Yamal's father Mounir Nasraoui posted it after the Spanish wunderkid helped his country win the European Championships.

"The beginning of two legends," read the adjoining caption.

Indeed, Messi grew to become arguably the g...