By our reporter
Photos of Lionel Messi, former Barcelona player and club legend, carrying Lamine Yamal, the Spanish teenage sensation taking the European Championship (Euro) 2024 by storm, have surfaced online.
The 16-year-old prodigy dropped a scintillating performance for Spain against France on Tuesday, netting a wonder goal that led La Roja to a 2-1 win.
Yamal has also been one of the best performers in the tournament, and his heroics have seen internet users dig out his pictures as a baby.
In one of the now-viral photos, Messi, the Argentine superstar who broke numerous records with Barcelona, was seen holding baby Yamal in his arms.
Another photo, shared by Yamalโs father on Instagram, showed the football star, also a product of Barcelonaโs famed La Masia academy, in a plastic tub filled with water, his mother and Messi, who was 20.
โThe beginning of two legends โค๏ธ,โ Yamalโs father wrote.
The photos were taken by Joan Monfort for AP in 2007 as part of a raffle won by Yamalโs parents in his hometown of Mataro. The Spanish youngsterโs family visited Camp Nou Stadium for the photoshoot.
Yamal is the youngest player to represent Spain in a European Championship.
He will lead Spain in the Euro 2024 final where they will meet either England or the Netherlands in Berlin on July 14.
