Baby picture of Lamine Yamal and young Lionel Messi resurfaces after almost 17 years

When Joan Monfort took photos of Lionel Messi with a baby for a charity calendar almost 17 years ago, he knew the long-haired young man would make it big in soccer.

He could not have imagined the little boy would as well.

The baby in the photos was none other than young Spanish star Lamine Yamal who, at 16, is showing such promise for Messi's former Barcelona club that he's already being compared to the greats himself.

He became the youngest player ever in the ongoing Euro 2024 in Germany and has registered two assists for Spain during the tournament, including in the opening goal of Spain's dramatic 2-1 quarterfinals win over the host Germans.

Monfort took a picture that now resembles the future and past legends of soccer. 

The long-forgotten photo from 2007 resurfaced after Yamal's father posted it on Instagram last week with the text "the beginning of two legends."

Monfort, 56, who works as a freelance photographer for The Associated Press and others, said the photo shoot took place in the visitors' locker room at Barcelona's Camp Nou in the autumn of 2007, when Yamal was just a few months old.

Barcelona players posed with children and their families for a calendar as part of an annual charity drive by local newspaper Diario Sport and UNICEF. Monfort was in charge of the photo shoots — and it just so happened that Messi was paired with Yamal's family. His mother, who is from Equatorial Guinea, is next to Messi and the baby in one of the photos.

"We made the calendar with the help of UNICEF. So UNICEF did a raffle in the neighborhood of Roca Fonda in Mataró where Lamine's family lived. They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barca player. And they won the raffle," Monfort said.