BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — When Joan Monfort took images of Lionel Messi with a child for a charity calendar virtually 17 years in the past, he knew the long-haired younger man would make it massive in soccer.
He couldn’t have imagined the little boy would as effectively.
The infant within the images — which have gone viral — was none apart from Lamine Yamal, the Spanish wunderkind, who at 16 is displaying such promise that he’s already being in comparison with the greats. The youngest to have performed for Spain, he grew to become the youngest participant ever within the ongoing European Championship in Germany.
One of many long-forgotten images from 2007 resurfaced after Yamal’s father posted it on Instagram final week with the textual content “the start of two legends.”
Monfort, 56, who works as a contract photographer for The Related Press and others, stated the photograph shoot passed off within the guests’ locker room at Barcelona’s Camp Nou within the autumn of 2007, when Yamal was only a few months outdated.
Barcelona gamers posed with youngsters and their households for a calendar as a part of an annual charity drive by native newspaper Diario Sport and UNICEF. Monfort was in command of the photograph shoots — and it simply so occurred that Messi was paired with Yamal’s household. His mom, who’s from Equatorial Guinea, is subsequent to Messi and the newborn in one of many images.
“We made the calendar with the assistance of UNICEF. So UNICEF did a raffle within the neighborhood of Roca Fonda in Mataró the place Lamine’s household lived. They signed up for the raffle to have their image taken on the Camp Nou with a Barca participant. They usually gained the raffle,” Monfort stated.
It wasn’t a simple project, he recalled, primarily as a result of Messi wasn’t positive how you can work together with child Lamine, who was in a plastic tub for the shoot.
“Messi is a fairly introverted man, he’s shy,” Monfort stated. “He was popping out of the locker room and out of the blue he finds himself in one other locker room with a plastic tub filled with water and a child in it. It was sophisticated. He didn’t even know how you can maintain him at first.”
Messi was 20 on the time and already thought-about a giant expertise, however it could take a few years earlier than he made his mark as essentially the most excellent participant of his era for Barcelona and Argentina.
Like Messi, Yamal has gone by means of Barcelona’s famend La Masia youth academy. Regardless of his age, he’s been one among Spain’s greatest gamers at Euro 2024, the place his group will play France within the semifinals on Tuesday. Yamal will flip 17 on Saturday, the day earlier than the ultimate in Berlin.
Monfort, 56, had no concept it was Yamal in these images from 2007 till a pal messaged him as they began trending on-line.
He’s had a protracted profession as a sports activities photographer since 1991, following Barcelona around the globe, however stated he’s by no means skilled this degree of pleasure round any of his images.
“It’s very thrilling to be related to one thing that has brought about such a sensation,” he stated. “To inform you the reality it’s a really good feeling.”
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AP Euro 2024:
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