Lamine Yamal said he thanked Lionel Messi for everything he had given football when they embraced after Spain beat Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final in New York last summer. He said the words came from the heart, not to look good in a photo.
Yamal also explained why a charity-calendar photo of Messi holding him as a baby only became public recently. He said he had asked his father to remove it after it was posted on Facebook, fearing comparisons with Messi would dominate discussion. Yamal wanted to be known as himself and asked his father to wait before sharing the image.
