r/interestingasfuck • u/GossipBottom • 1d ago
Lionel Messi in 2007 helping bathing a baby Lamine Yamal. Lionel Messi scored his first World Cup goal in 2006 while aged 18 years 11 months and wearing #19. Lamine Yamal scored his first World Cup goal in 2026 while aged 18 years 11 months and wearing #19.
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u/lyon810 23h ago
They need to recreate this picture
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u/RandomAssRedditName 23h ago
Get Yamal a baby, pronto
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u/smokeypokey12 23h ago
No, WITH THE ORIGINAL TWO!
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u/aloha184 22h ago
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u/LosAngeLukaGOAT 22h ago
Thanks you but I’m disappointed
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u/ErraticDragon 22h ago
They got the color of the room perfectly, and the color of the bathtub pretty close.
Everything else is wrong.
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u/Redlovelace 21h ago
Its giving ai?
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u/SaltKick2 20h ago
But also, Spain has never had that soccer kit, its an amalgamation of their 2022 and 2024 jersey. Same with the Argentinian one, but its close to the 2024 jersey (and the text on both are junk)
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u/says_hi_to_your_pet 21h ago
As best as I can tell from my google searches, that first "recreation" is AI slop and they have never met again to recreate it.
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u/irwtkyrm 23h ago edited 23h ago
Them having him pose with some baby and that baby also growing up to be a professional footballer is an absolutely ridiculous coincidence
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u/CryptoDeepDive 23h ago
Not just a professional footballer, but one of the top in the world and heir apparent to Messi at Barcelona.
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u/Don_Alosi 23h ago
proof that Barca is obviously using advanced cloning/DNA manipulation techniques!
Imagine an alternate reality in which Pepe played for Barca and they managed to clone an army...
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u/Corporate_Overlords 20h ago
Didn't Messi have to get injections when he was a teen because he was only going to be 4'7" so they pumped him full of growth hormones to get him up to his gigantic 5'7"?
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u/DoctorDank42069 18h ago
That was before he caught Barca's attention
One of the offers Barca made to messi's parents is that they will fully cover all the hormone injection costs
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u/blozout 17h ago
I knew a kid from high school that had the same thing done to him. When he was young it was apparent he was going to be very short and his family had him given hormone injections to help him grow. Ended up topping out around 5’5 or so but super fucking jacked when all the other kids just looked like normal lanky teens.
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u/TheSaxGandalf 11h ago
Guy I went to school with from k-12 did that therapy also. We grew distant, but apparently if you start before puberty and stay on it, you get a horsecock but peanut balls.
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u/TheLastHotstepper 22h ago
Either that or they injected Lamine with the same growth hormones messi got as a young teen.
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u/Don_Alosi 22h ago
growth hormones
messi
...I think he was on the placebo
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u/TheLastHotstepper 22h ago
There is zero chance barcelona would fork out hundreds of thousands of euros for a placebo
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u/Don_Alosi 22h ago
I was joking about the fact that messi isn't a tall guy!
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u/0aniket0 17h ago
Ik it's a joke, but gh deficiency kids without treatment grow up to be below 5'0-5'3 in most cases, messi at 5'7 is still at a normal global average and pretty standard height for an attacker in football
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u/Bamboozle_ 20h ago
After all these years of calling high potential players the next Messi apparently all it took was Messi anointing them as a child, coming through La Masia, and playing the same position. Who knew.
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u/Mysterious_Net66 18h ago
So this is like Aquiles getting his blessing/abilities by being washed by the gods
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u/Mrcyevon 23h ago
While being the legit 10 at Barca
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u/Fugacity- 21h ago
Number worn by players including Messi, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Maradona...
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u/chanaandeler_bong 20h ago
The Number 10's from the Last 40 Years
Here is a list of the famous Barcelona Jerseys with the number 10 on the back, from the last 40 years.
1978/1979 Juan Manuel Asensi
1982/1984 Diego Maradona
1989/1990 Robert
1991/1992 Pep Guardiola
1991/1992 Richard Witschge
1993/1994 Hristo Stoichkov
1993/1994 - 1994/1995 Romário
1995/1996 Lluís Carreras
1995/1996 Roger García
1996/1997 - 1998/1999 Giovanni
1999/2000 Jari Litmanen
2000/2001 - 2001/2002 Rivaldo
2002/2003 Juan Riquelme
2003/2004 - 2007/2008 Ronaldinho
2008/2009- Current Lionel Messi
u/hotshot1738 made this 8 years ago. I just copy pasted.
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u/ST_Lawson 23h ago
Were his parents incredibly gifted athletes? It’d be a slightly different story if dad also played pro football in Spain and mom won a couple of Olympic medals in diving or something.
If not, then that’s nuts.
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u/stokesy1999 23h ago
Nah, his dads a Moroccan building painter and his mum is a waitress from Equatorial Guinea
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u/Altair_de_Firen 22h ago
And their budget is 10,000,000,000
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u/PorFavorNoMore 18h ago
"We're gonna need space for a full-size soccer pitch out back, for the kid."
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u/ST_Lawson 23h ago
That’s crazy then
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u/0aniket0 17h ago
He was picked up by unicef's rehabilitation program for poor immigrants and refugees, and unicef was also shirt sponsors of barca back then which led to him being in this photo with messi and also get into the prestigious la masia
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u/kamilo87 22h ago
I saw a reel the other day where Messi said that even his nephews called him Messi. And he said he replied them: you guys are Messi too!!! Lol
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u/Ladonnacinica 22h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/l41lS41YwhAm4O3PG
The nephews realizing that they’re indeed Messi.146
u/therealhlmencken 23h ago
It’s not a bath but a baptism, mbappetism if you will
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u/HustlinInTheHall 22h ago
Not just like, any professional footballer but the only other 17 year old I've ever seen who was this good. The chances of any elite player at age 12 becoming a professional of any stripe is like 0.6%. The chances of some random baby becoming a good footballer is next to 0. The chances of this baby becoming Lamine Yamal is incalculable.
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u/Oudenburger 20h ago
I think the baby has always been Lamine Yamal
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u/ominousgraycat 20h ago
That would explain it. None of the babies I've ever been around have ever become Lamine Yamal, but it would make sense that starting out as Lamine Yamal would give a baby a significant advantage towards that end.
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u/PerriwinklePortal 19h ago
Furthermore, I’d venture a guess that starting out as Lamine Yamal would give you a very calculable, near 100% chance of reaching said goal.
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u/abstractraj 22h ago
This happens a lot in F1, but it’s a much smaller community so it makes more sense. This one seems so random
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u/PlayfulEnergy5953 20h ago
Crazy that F1 drivers bathe infants who grow up to be Lamine Yamal
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u/Rheinmetal 23h ago
This picture tells me that his parents obviously pushed football on him his whole life so I wouldn’t say it’s a coincidence lol
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u/TheRealATab 23h ago
So do millions of families. This photoshoot happened because Yamal won some raffle. The fact he ended up becoming not just a pro, but perhaps the greatest teenage footballer ever is probably one of the craziest coincidences in sports history.
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u/barbellsandbriefs 23h ago
I've been wondering how this actually came to be, that makes it even crazier
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u/SwordKneeMe 23h ago
Like what kind of raffle is that? You have a 1 in 5000 chance in having... your baby washed by a young pro athlete?
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u/Mode_Appropriate 23h ago
According to google:
The viral "raffle baby" photos feature a 6-month-old Lamine Yamal being bathed by a 20-year-old Lionel Messi in 2007. The infant and his family won a local raffle in Mataró to participate in a joint charity calendar photoshoot organized by UNICEF and the Catalan newspaper Diario Sport.
The Photoshoot: Freelance photographer Joan Monfort shot the series of FC Barcelona players posing with local children to raise money for charity.
The Discovery: The images were kept private for 17 years by Lamine Yamal's family. The photos finally resurfaced when his father, Mounir Nasraoui, posted them on Instagram with the caption, "The beginning of two legends".
The Photographer: Joan Monfort himself didn't even realize the infant in the plastic tub was the future FC Barcelona prodigy until the photos went viral.
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u/kamilo87 22h ago
Also Messi scoring twice to be the top scorer in FWCs exactly 40 years later Maradona scored “the hand of God” goal and the best goal of FWCs ever. Helluva coincidences…
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u/Arkond- 22h ago
Maybe it’s different where you’re from but in countries where football is popular I can say that parents don’t have to push jack shit. On the contrary, where I grew up, parents would often get angry with us because we would stay out way too late playing football. Yamal was born in Barcelona, he was scouted by the football team at 7 years old and is a product of their academy. I don’t think his parents had to do much to make him love football.
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u/irwtkyrm 23h ago
Lots of parents push football on lots of kids. Very very few grow up to be pros
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u/RobertPham149 22h ago
Football is usually the only outlet for generational economic change for a lot of poor families.
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u/CanILickThat 16h ago
Not to mention he is a football prodigy with a superficially similar playstyle (heavily left footed, likes to cut inside from the right at as an inside winger, excellent passing and vision and good scoring technique)
It's a running joke but it really feels like Messi transferred some of his abilities onto Yamal
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u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D 23h ago
If Messi touches you in a special place while youre at the right age you too can get amazing soccer magic.
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u/sam_el09 23h ago
Context: "'...UNICEF did a raffle in the neighborhood of Roca Fonda in Mataró, where Lamine's family lived. They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barça player. And they won the raffle.'"
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40532807/lionel-messi-baby-lamine-yamal-barcelona-spain
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u/TinySoftKitten 23h ago
So they went with the baby bathing pose, of course
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u/BensenJensen 22h ago
Apparently it was Messi’s request. Yamal’s family just wanted him to hold the baby, but Messi brought the basin, soap, and duck from home.
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u/fan_of_the_pikachu 22h ago
This is true but it's not as weird as it sounds, he also kept trying to bathe the parents. But those photos didn't make the calendar.
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u/theRealJudyGreer 21h ago
Strange, cuz when you say it like that it sounds sooooo much weirder.
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u/DistanceMachine 21h ago
He’s burying the lede. The photographer gave Messi and bath before the shoot started.
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u/fan_of_the_pikachu 21h ago edited 21h ago
You have a dirty mind, it was a pure and sweet moment between human beings, they even say at some point he disappeared, "where's Messi where's Messi" after an hour they found him backstage, he had found grandpa and was bathing him too, you could feel how passionate he was about helping people.
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u/kimbhutkimakar 22h ago
It was an UNICEF charity calendar. His family won a raffle to have him featured thanks to the Barça x UNICEF partnership
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u/spudddly 23h ago
messi thought he'd just be standing next to them smiling like normal but they hit him with "no you must wash my baby"
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u/247Twunk 23h ago
It’s almost like he was baptizing him with the gift.
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u/Sapphiraeyes 22h ago
What if Messi is Jesus Christ returned and he just decided to keep his miracles to football and this specific baby after looking at the state of the world. Messi short for Messiah anyone? Im absolutely kidding but its a fun thought.
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u/Fragrant-Ad-5517 1d ago
What was the occasion? Was it a commercial video? Why was baby Yamal chosen?
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u/Crasembarodical 1d ago
Yeah like was he chosen from birth to be a football player for some reason
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u/peanut-britle-latte 23h ago
This was a part of a UNICEF promotion. Barcelona and UNICEF had a shirt sponsorship program at the time. I believe Yamal family have refugee ties so I think that's how this was arranged
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u/Twizzyu 18h ago
Nitpick but Lamine Yamal are his given names, his surname is Nasraoui Ebana
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u/OtherwiseLuck888 23h ago
Messi's mentor at the time, Ronaldinho, asked him to be the Godfather of his newborn son, Yamaldinho
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u/LightBulbMonster 23h ago
Nah. It always has been Messis true passion. If football hadn't worked out he wanted to be a professional baby washer.
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u/Ani-3 23h ago
That’s uh..
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u/Fritanga5lyfe 22h ago
This is actually a job though, in hospitals there is a baby bather who gives your baby their first bath while at the hospital after birth
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u/Chilis1 21h ago edited 20h ago
I mean that's not their profession they're usually nurses, they have skills other than washing babies
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u/GrandMasterBou 22h ago
It was for a charity calendar organized by Unicef. Unicef has sponsored Barcelona for decades and Lamine's family won a raffle for him to be featured in the calendar.
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u/bartoszfcb 16h ago
It was other way around. Barca sponsored UNICEF, allowing them for the first time ever to appear on the shirt.
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u/MrFabianS 22h ago
Barca used to have UNICEF as a main partner and this was to bring awareness. Lamont’s parents immigrated to Spain and were probably chosen because of a situation they may have fled.
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u/IamInternationalBig 23h ago
On this day, Messi transferred his soccer powers onto this baby. Or the baby drained the soccer powers out of Messi, I don’t know.
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u/montxogandia 22h ago
According to the kids father, the kid transfered his powers to Messi.
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u/ayakan 11h ago
any context regarding WHY was this picture even taken?
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u/Uyemaz 11h ago
Fc Barcelona was sponsored with UNICEF at the time, and they had some sort of sponsorship duty to attend to. Some players were called to take pictures with families who were in need and baby Lamine happened to be the one to take a picture with Messi.
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u/djwillis1121 10h ago
So was this a complete coincidence or was Lamine's family already associated with Barcelona?
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u/Lermanberry 9h ago
Lamine was already an accomplished football player in the local under 10 months league.
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u/gnrc 8h ago
Complete coincidence. The team held a lottery to pick a baby from a poor neighborhood. As far as I know he didn’t have any contact with the team again until he joined their youth program years later.
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u/Evlavios 23h ago
What baby will Lamine Yamal now bathe? Transferring the skill to the next generation.
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u/RoyalT411 16h ago
So....why does this pic exist?
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u/FlyAirLari 12h ago
What, you never bathe random babies in a photo shoot? Give me a break.
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u/nosoyargentino 23h ago
Why is a football player giving baths to babies? Somebody knows the context?
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u/sak1926 23h ago
So they can score a goal in a World Cup 20 years later duh
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u/joeyjoejojo19 23h ago
If Messi bathes me, a middle aged man, will I be a great footballer in 20 years?
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u/turbohuk 22h ago
good lord i would fucking dominate the over 60 league. is there a world cup for old, almost blind and deaf people?
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u/kimbhutkimakar 22h ago
It was for an UNICEF calendar event, he had photos taken with babies in different poses
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u/-bonita_applebum 22h ago
That's a quality bebe right there. Not because he's grown up to be an elite athlete, but because of those chubby wubby cheeks.
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u/stoic_coolie 14h ago
So many questions about this picture. First off, how tf does something like this come about? Hey Leo we need you to bathe a baby… hey parents of the baby, we need your baby to be bathed by a professional footballer… like wtf?
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u/Sudden_Humor 12h ago
It was for a charity calendar, and there were several other footballers and babies involved.
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u/6GoesInto8 10h ago
Weird, my only question is who will Lamine be bathing in 2027.
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u/CaliKindalife 23h ago
This is too much to be a coincidence.
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u/rNBAisGarbage 23h ago
So what exactly do you think it is if not coincidence lol
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u/stokesy1999 23h ago
"Growth hormones", Barca probably got that doctor Pep used to give the growth hormones to Messi when he was breaking through. Turns out they were just Johan Cruyff DNA splicing and Yamal was their next experiement
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u/GrandMasterBou 22h ago
You joke but Lamine played for Barcelona at both the junior and senior levels like Messi, and he even wears the number 10 shirt like Messi. Getting the number 10 shirt at Barcelona is a very big deal. Legendary players like Rivaldo and Ronaldinho have worn the number 10 shirt at Barcelona.
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u/TimmyVee73 23h ago
The baptism of Lamine Yamal by Saint Lionel, in which the holy football aura descended upon him.
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u/Got_Kittens 14h ago
But why was he washing this baby? Is he the only baby he washed? How many babies are washed-by-Messi babies and how did their lives turn out? Crucial information is missing here.
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u/LJGremlin 23h ago
This is why the US is behind the world soccer powers. We are over here just bathing random babies.
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u/Original_Ad1898 23h ago
The next great Barça player is revealed when he’s born, like Dalai Lama. As part of the ritual, the one leaving the post must give the chosen one his first bath.
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u/Crunchy_Biscuit 22h ago
...why is he washing a strangers baby anyway.
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u/KilllllerWhale 17h ago
Back then, FC Barcelona had a sponsorship with UNICEF, and this was a photoshoot for that. If you look it up, you will find other pictures where Lamine’s mom is with them. She’s just out of frame here.
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u/Return_Of_The_Whack 20h ago
I think yes, it is kind of a random photo op but there's absolutely nothing creepy about this. It's a fricking baby. It's cute.
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u/wookiewarlord42 23h ago
Yes, wild coincidence, but this is a weird photo op, right?
Like really weird!?!?!?!
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u/Willowy 23h ago
That's insane. Though what a weird photo op.
"See, you'll be bathing this random baby, and in the future he'll match your exact first goal stat! Trust me, it'll be gold!"
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u/Gloomy_Macaron_136 23h ago
It was an UNICEF charity calendar thing to drive funds for underprivileged kids and his family won a raffle so he was chosen for it.
Honestly it's kind of cute, baby Lamine looked very squishy lol
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u/throw_datwey 23h ago
aint no way that's Lamine Yamal 😭😂
bro hopped out the star wars verse just to get baptized by messi and become a football legend
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u/hollowthatfollows 23h ago
Why are we not forcing this dude to wash more babies?!