By Kyle Pollard

Topic: FIFA World Cup

Thursday, July 16, 2026, at 11:29 am

Lionel Messi held baby Lamine Yamal in 2007. Now, they will meet in the 2026 World Cup final.

In 2007, 20-year-old Lionel Messi left the Camp Nou player change rooms and entered another room.

Messi had long hair and wore a white hoodie, looking a bit like a biblical figure.

He was led in by his team, with a photographer taking pictures and flashes going off.

Messi's eyes looked at a young mother and her tiny baby boy.

Yamal's mother, Sheila Ebana, joined Messi for the photo shoot.

The scene was like something from Bethlehem, but without frankincense and myrrh.

Sheila Ebana was 16 and from Equatorial Guinea. She worked as a waitress and got pregnant with Mounir Nasraoui from Morocco.

The couple raised their son in Mataró and won a Unicef raffle to meet Messi.

Lamine Yamal is now a famous football player.

The little boy in the photo is now 19 and will play against Messi in the World Cup final.

They won a raffle to take a picture with a Barcelona player at Camp Nou.

And they won.

It was for a calendar photo shoot, and Messi didn't know what to do.

Messi is a shy person.

Practice Listening