Spain winger Lamine Yamal has said viral photographs of him as a baby with Lionel Messi were kept hidden until now because comparisons with the Barcelona legend would not have helped his career.
Photos of Messi in 2007 bathing six-month-old Yamal alongside the boy's mother, Sheila Ebana, surfaced earlier this month and quickly received worldwide attention.
The images are part of a series of photographs taken for a charity calendar organised by the Catalan newspaper Diario Sport in collaboration with UNICEF.
“Obviously, at the time the photos were taken I was not aware of what was happening 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 comparisons with Messi.
“Nobody would mind being compared to the greatest player of all time, but it could work against you because you'll never be like him.”
However, Yamal's explosive performances for Barça as a left-footed winger playing on the right quickly earned him comparisons to Argentine striker Messi.
Having made his debut for Barca's first team aged 15 in 2023, he made over 50 appearances last season, quickly earning international recognition for Spain and becoming the youngest player to play and score at a European Championship at this summer's tournament in Germany.
Former Barca coach Xavi Hernandez acknowledged the inevitable comparisons were unhelpful, but even he admitted Yamal, who turns 17 on Saturday, has “glints of Messi”. A cropped version of one of the photos was first posted on Instagram last week by Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, alongside 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 in everything, not only as a footballer but also as a person.”
Yamal has been one of the stars of this summer's European Championship in Germany, scoring a brilliant equaliser in Spain's semi-final win over France on Tuesday and assisting a tournament-high three goals as Spain advanced to Sunday's final, where they will face England.
