FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
In 2007, when Lionel Messi was still very young, he took some photos with a child in the dressing room at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium for a charity photo shoot.
Then he was 20 years old, ready to put his name in golden letters in the history of European football. But who would have thought that 17 years later even the baby in those photos would make international football talk about him before he was even 17 years old.
Messi was washing Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old who is the 'headline' of this European Championship. The goal against France in the semi-final on Tuesday is one many fans will talk about for decades.
At just 16 years and 362 days, the striker became the youngest player to score in the tournament's history. The forgotten photo of Messi with Yamal was resurfaced by the teenager's father who posted it on social media last week, writing: The beginning of two legends.
The photos were taken by Joan Monfort who works as a photographer for the Associated Press. They were carried out after Unicef conducted a lottery in Mataro, where Lamine's family lived. The photographer has captured everything that happened that day.
"Messi is introverted, he is shy. He left the dressing room and suddenly found himself in another dressing room with a basin filled with water and a child in it. It was a bit complicated. He didn't even know how to hold it at first," said the photographer.
Like Messi, Yamal also started playing for Barcelona, becoming the youngest starter and scorer in the Spanish league. Monfort said when the photo went viral last week, he realized the child was Yamal.
"It's very nice to be associated with something that has created such a sensation. It's a nice feeling to tell the truth," he said.
Lini një Përgjigje