Lamine Yamal Thanks Lionel Messi After Spain Beat Argentina in World Cup Final

Lamine Yamal’s first world title with Spain carried an emotional meeting with Lionel Messi after the 2026 final, as Spain beat Argentina through Ferran Torres’s extra-time winner. The 19-year-old sought out Messi amid the celebrations to thank the Argentina captain for his contribution to football.

Key takeaways

• Spain defeated Argentina in the 2026 final after Ferran Torres scored in extra time.
• The result made 19-year-old Yamal a world champion with Spain.
• Messi, 39, ended his international career shortly after Argentina’s defeat.
• Yamal said his exchange with Messi was a sincere personal gesture rather than a moment staged for photographs.
• The Barcelona winger had once asked for a childhood photograph with Messi to be removed from social media to avoid premature comparisons.

A respectful meeting after Spain’s triumph

The final produced sharply contrasting scenes: Spain celebrating a major international success and Messi facing the end of his long Argentina career. Torres settled the contest in extra time, delivering the goal that secured the trophy for Spain and placed Yamal among the tournament’s youngest champions.

Yamal, a Barcelona academy product, made a point of approaching Messi on the pitch after the final. He said he thanked the veteran for everything he had brought to the game, describing the moment as something he felt compelled to do.

The Spain forward insisted there was no intention to create a public image from the encounter. He said the embrace came naturally and was not done to appear well in a photograph.

Messi’s departure from international football, at the age of 39, gave the meeting added significance. The final became a moment in which one of the modern era’s defining players left the stage while another Barcelona-linked attacker continued his rapid rise.

Yamal’s wish to establish his own identity

Yamal also addressed the widely shared photograph showing Messi bathing him as a baby. The image has become part of football folklore, but Yamal said he was initially uncomfortable with it being made public.

His father had uploaded the picture to Facebook, before Yamal asked for it to be taken down. The winger’s concern was that the image would invite constant comparisons with Messi before he had established himself as a player in his own right.

Yamal explained that he wanted to be recognised as Lamine rather than be labelled Messi’s successor, and had asked for the photograph to remain private until he had made his own name in the sport.

Having broken records with Barcelona and now played a central part in Spain’s latest international triumph, Yamal appears more at ease with the connection. His meeting with Messi after the final reflected admiration for a predecessor, while his own career continues on its separate and increasingly accomplished path.