Lionel Messi has showered Lamine Yamal with praise ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina.
The two La Masia graduates will come face to face in the game and Messi says he has followed his career closely.
“Lamine is a fantastic player, whom I’ve followed closely because he plays for a club I love and always wish the best for,” he told reporters.
“At just 19 years old, he’s already one of the world’s leading figures. He has his whole career ahead of him and the opportunity to achieve
something historic. We’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen this time!”
Messi was also asked about that picture of the two together when Yamal was a baby. An extraordinary twist of fate saw Messi paired with Yamal for a charity photoshoot and he admits it’s a wild picture.
“That photo is crazy. Life… I took a picture with him when he was a baby and now we’ll face each other in a World Cup final,” he added.
“He’s one of the best in the world right now and I wish him the best of luck because his success will also be Barcelona’s success.
“Of course, we’ll try to play a good match so he doesn’t have his best game, although it’s difficult.”
Yamal is not the only Barcelona player that Messi will come up against on Sunday. Pau Cubarsi and Dani Olmo are also expected to start, with Pedri, Gavi, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia and Joan Garcia on the bench.
