‘There’s No Doubt’—Lionel Messi Makes Huge Lamine Yamal Claim

The former Barcelona legend had much to say about the prodigious star of the present day.

Lionel Messi (left) and Lamine Yamal have never played against each other. | Giorgio Viera/AFP/Javier Borrego/Europa Press/Getty Images

Former Barcelona legend Lionel Messi is seeing his legacy at the Camp Nou carried over by the likes of teenage superstar Lamine Yamal, and it does not go without praise.

Across 17 seasons, Messi established an era-defining legacy with his unrivaled creativity, poise and dribbling skills. Now, Yamal paves his own path for the Blaugrana, with his own unique creativity and flair from the right wing, all while donning Messi’s No. 10 jersey.

“There is a new generation of footballers who are very good and who have many years ahead of them, but if I have to choose one because of age, for what he has done so far and for the future he may have, it is Lamine,” Messi said at an adidas event this week, per Diario Sport. “There’s no doubt, for me, he’s the best.”

Yamal, Barça’s current leading goalscorer and assist provider, most recently won the Laureus Young Sportsperson of the Year award, recognizing him as the best young athlete under the age of 21 globally. He also finished runner-up in the 2025 Ballon d’Or voting, ultimately losing to Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembélé.

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A Relationship Decades in the Making

In 2007, a 20-year-old Lionel Messi was pictured bathing a baby for a Barça-UNICEF charity campaign—that baby, Lamine Yamal, is now a rising football star. pic.twitter.com/wCbjWHCEm5

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) July 16, 2025

Although Messi and Yamal have never met on the pitch, their relationship famously began nearly 20 years ago, of pure coincidence—or perhaps, fate.

In 2007, Messi, 20 years old at the time, was tapped by Barcelona to participate in a charity photoshoot at the Camp Nou, taking photos to raise funds for UNICEF and for the Barça Foundation childhood protection programs. The six-month-old Catalan baby that Messi was photographed with was none other than Yamal.

“UNICEF did a raffle in the neighborhood of Rocafonda in Mataró where Lamine's family lived,” the charity photoshoot photographer, Joan Monfort, said in 2025. “They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won the raffle.

"Messi didn’t even know how to hold him at first. Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he’s shy. He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated.

“For Lamine to grow up to be a footballer, and to have this photo, I’m just really happy it happened. It’s especially nice in today’s football, when so much is to do with money and power.”

Many fans consider that encounter to be a symbolic “soccer baptism,” foreshadowing the torch Messi would one day pass to Yamal.

Although Yamal is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, out for the remainder of the La Liga season, he is anticipated to return for the 2026 World Cup and make his debut for Spain on the sport’s grandest stage. It is there that the reigning European champions could come face-to-face with the World Cup holders, Argentina, seeing Yamal and Messi on the same pitch for the first time ever, as early as the round of 32.

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Yamal Outspoken in His Admiration of Messi

Lamine Yamal has been outspoken about his feelings towards Lionel Messi. | JULIEN DE ROSA–AFP / Stephane Cardinale–Corbis/Corbi / Getty Images

After Barcelona’s star forward won the first-ever Young Sportsperson of the Year—marking back-to-back honors for the prodigious star at the Laureus World Sports Awards, after winning Breakthrough Sportsperson of the Year in 2025—Yamal couldn’t help but praise Messi, expressing his desire to follow in his footsteps.

Messi also has two Laureus awards in his trophy cabinet, winning his first World Sportsman of the Year award in 2020 while playing for Barcelona, becoming the first soccer player to do ever do so. He won it again in 2023, making him the only team-sport athlete to win it twice. The Inter Miami captain is still the only soccer player to have ever won the award.

“For me, Messi is the best player in history,” Yamal said at the awards ceremony last month. “I don’t know if he’s the best player in all sports, but if not, he’s close. He’s an idol. Everyone respects him for everything he’s done. He’s been a part of the childhood of all the kids who played at school, in the park.

“I hope I can follow in his footsteps and have another one of those [trophies] in my house.”

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