Lionel Messi, the master who returned empty-handed from the FIFA World Cup 2026, would have ideally wanted a fellow Argentine to carry on his legacy.
Instead, he passed the baton of soccer greatness to Spaniard Lamine Yamal in a photo steeped with symbolism at the end of an ill-tempered final on Sunday, 19 July.
Once the match ended, the white-and-blue Albiceleste proved sore losers as at least three players – Leandro Parades, guilty of several cynical tackles during the match, Nahuel Molina and Thiago Almada – began fighting and punching the winners in a shocking brawl in full view of broadcasting cameras. However, the Argentine captain reached out to Yamal and gave him a warm hug, a moment which has now gone viral, reminding one of the famous baby bath Messi gave Yamal 19 years ago.
The final was certainly an anti-climax for Messi, who at 39 has nothing left to achieve in terms of soccer glory. If his decision to play in a record sixth World Cup was an afterthought, he gave it his all to inspire back-to-back recovery acts in the last four knockout matches before the team’s limitations were exposed by a technically superior and temperamentally stronger Spain in the game which mattered most.
It was at the acclaimed La Masia academy of Barcelona FC that a teenaged Messi began his journey, and the fact that Yamal took his first steps from the same academy looks like a coincidence made in heaven. Commenting on the bathing photo which again appeared before the final, Oriol Canals, an employee of the Spanish sports daily Sport which published the calendar featuring the now-viral image, said: ”It’s incredible – it’s one of those gifts that life gives you, it’d be like Michael Jordan bathing LeBron James.”
An emotional Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni, meanwhile, said after the final: “I hope the Argentinian people are proud of their team and proud of Messi and everything he’s done. In my opinion, he’s the best footballer ever to grace a pitch.”
Yamal, who at 19 already has a World Cup and a Euro trophy on his shelves, is blessed with a left foot which makes the ball talk, the ability to glide past opponents at will, and a knack of making the right choices at breakneck speed: a combination that renders him virtually unplayable on his day. Comparisons between him and the reigning deity of football are perhaps inevitable, with the current Barcelona star widely tipped as the heir apparent to the Catalan club’s all-time top scorer.
Coach Luis de la Fuente, who gambled with Yamal in the senior squad as a 16-year-old for Euro 2024, hailed the tireless and disciplined shift that the youngster delivered both against Argentina and throughout the tournament. “I want to give real credit to Lamine,” the veteran said. ”He’s shown that he can play football another way and this can help him kick on and become more mature and an even better player than he already is. We’re really grateful to him for how he’s sacrificed himself for the good of the team. He’s had a great World Cup.”
The image of Messi and Yamal in an embrace not just reflected the obvious respect between them but more importantly, the end of an era and potentially the start of a long-running new reign in world football.