📸 Incredible photo of Lionel Messi blessing baby Lamine Yamal goes viral

If Lamine Yamal goes on to fulfil his undoubted potential, a photo shared by the Barcelona and Spain star’s father could go down as one of the greatest in the history of football.

“The beginning of two legends,” wrote Lamine’s father Mounir Nasroui in the caption of what appears to be a photo of Barcelona icon Lionel Messi doting over a baby Lamine in a plastic tub full of bubbles as his mother bathes him.

The circumstances surrounding the photo are not known, but it is believed to have been taken in the late 2000s, when Messi was around 20, and Lamine was still just a baby.

Lamine went on to join Barcelona’s academy at the age of seven, before making his senior debut at 15, and is currently starring for Spain at EURO 2024 aged just 16.

Commenters on the Instagram post suggested Messi was “blessing” the youngster and “passing on his powers”.

If Lamine ends up having half as good a career as Messi’s, he won’t have done too badly.