Lionel Messi, widely considered the best player of all time, and Lamine Yamal, a youngster many see as a potential successor, are featured in four images from a photoshoot that went viral.

Surprisingly, they crossed paths when Messi was barely 20 years old and Yamal was five months old. Messi is 37 years old right now, and Yamal will be 17 next week. Yamal will represent Spain in the quarterfinals of the 2024 European Championship against Germany, and Messi will be playing in the semifinals of the Copa America with his beloved Argentina.

Messi is seen in the photos assisting Yamal’s parents with bathing the newborn. The child’s father verified the photographs’ veracity on social media, and Diario SPORT has shed insight on how this encounter ever occurred.

The FC Barcelona players posed for the photos for free in an effort to generate funds for a charity calendar that was published every year by SPORT back then.

With a price tag оf 4.50 eurоs per cоpy, 35 thоusand calendars were prоduced. Cоntributiоns were made tо a number оf wоrthy causes, including UNICEF and FC Barcelоna’s оwn XICS after-schооl prоgram.

In the Santa Rosa neighborhood of the Barcelona metropolitan region, there is an after-school program called XICS de Santa Coloma de Gramenet, where the youngsters shown in the calendar were enrolled, according to a press release.

Yamal may have been involved with another charity or a student at XICS; it is not apparent which.

Regardless, the photo has gone viral on social media, with many speculating that the young star’s decision to “bless” the future star was a sign from on high.