For many sport and football fans, a curious photo may have recently popped up on their social media feeds of a man giving a bath to a chubby-faced baby.

Of course, the man is the one and only Lionel Messi, and the photo is from 2007 when Messi — now 39 — was just 20 years old.

But — outside of the fact that Messi is about to feature in another World Cup final — that doesn’t really explain why so many are sharing the photo.

And it’s not really about Messi, it’s about the baby ... who is miraculously about to play against Messi in the World Cup final. Indeed, the baby is Spanish teen sensation Lamine Yamal.

Yamal is just 19 years old and is already considered to be one of the best players in the world. In fact, two years ago he was a key cog for Spain when they won Euro 2024.

But let’s go back to 2007 when Joan Monfort took a series of photos with Messi and baby Lamine.

“It is a true miracle of destiny,” Monfort told BBC Sport.

“It is serendipity ... when you find something extra special, so much bigger than you ever thought.

“If you wrote this in a film, it would not seem possible.”

The photos came about, because Yamal’s family had won a raffle in a newspaper.

They were taken at Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium when Messi played for the Spanish football giant.

Many years later, Monfort was told about the extraordinary significance of her photos.

“I had no idea it was Lamine in the photo until one my friends called me in 2024 and told me his father had posted it to Instagram,” Monfort said.

“Messi is a really introverted guy, very timid and shy.

“He came into the dressing room and suddenly had to take these photos with a little baby ... not even a kid, a proper baby and his face changed like he had no idea what to do.

“It is difficult for a young man, but Lamine was a very happy, smiley little baby. His mum Sheila helped us, she was a young girl and they were a very poor family, but they were very nice to work with.

“Messi was always a professional in these kinds of things and he adapted to the situation very quickly.”

Now, all these years later, Messi and Yamal are set to cross paths again, this time of the biggest stage of all.

However, there is now some concern around the fitness of Yamal.

On Thursday, Yamal and Pedro Porro trained away from their teammates during a session in New Jersey.

They are both expected to be fit but Yamal has done a power of work so far in the tournament to help Spain get to the final.

Not including the clash against Cape Verde, Lamal has started every match and clocked up a whopping 496 minutes of play so far, including 90 minutes in their last encounter with France.

Spain’s coach Luis de la Fuente is expecting his 19-year-old superstar to be good to go in the final in New Jersey.

“As far as I know, Lamine has nothing serious,” de la Fuen said.

“I’ve just spoken with the medical staff, and everything looks positive.”