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Spain winger Lamine Yamal has said that the viral photographs of him as a baby with Lionel Messi were kept hidden until now because the comparisons with the Barcelona legend would not have helped his career.
Photos of Messi in 2007 bathing a six-month old Yamal alongside the youngster’s mother, Sheila Ebana, surfaced earlier this month and quickly received global attention.
The images were part of a series of photographs taken for a charity calendar organised by Catalan newspaper Diario Sport in conjunction with UNICEF.
“Obviously, in the moment the photos were taken I wasn’t conscious of what was going on at that age,” Yamal told Jijantes on Friday.
“My dad had the photos saved and they never came out, basically because we didn’t want the comparisons with Messi.
“No one would be annoyed to be compared with the best to ever play the game, but it’s something that could work against you because you’re never going to be like him.”
As it happened, Yamal’s explosive performances for Barça as a left-footed winger playing on the right quickly saw him compared to Argentina forward Messi anyway.
After making his debut for Barça’s first team at the age of 15 in 2023, he made over 50 appearances last season, quickly earning international recognition with Spain, and became the youngest player to ever play and score in a European Championship at this summer’s tournament in Germany.
Former Barça coach Xavi Hernández agreed that the inevitable comparisons were not useful, but even he admitted that Yamal, who turns 17 on Saturday, has “flashes of Messi.” A cropped version of one of the photos was first posted on Instagram last week by Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, along with the caption: “The beginning of two legends.”
Asked on Thursday if Messi blessed his son, Mounir said: “Maybe Lamine blessed Leo. My son is the best at everything, not just as a footballer but also a person.”
Yamal has been one of the stars of this summer’s Euros in Germany, scoring a brilliant equaliser in Spain’s semifinal win over France on Tuesday and setting up a tournament-high three goals as Spain progressed to Sunday’s final where they will face England.