What did Yamal say to Messi at World Cup final? ‘Thank you for everything’

Two months after Spain dethroned Argentina as FIFA World Cup winners, Lamine Yamal has revealed what he said to a crestfallen Lionel Messi after the full-time whistle was blown in the final in the United States.

The teenage superstar thanked the football icon for “everything you gave football” as the pair shared a warm embrace on the pitch, Yamal said in an interview published in British media on Tuesday.

An extra-time goal by Ferran Torres in the July 19 final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, handed Spain their second World Cup crown as 2022 holders Argentina failed to win a title for the first time in three major tournaments.

In what was Yamal’s first World Cup final and Messi’s last, their hug was seen as a passing-of-the-torch moment between one of football’s greats and a player earmarked to build on his trophy-laden career in the future.

“I said thank you for everything you gave football,” Yamal told The Guardian newspaper.

“I don’t do things to look nice for the photo. That came from inside.”

Before the final, much of the attention had centred on the battle between 39-year-old Messi and 19-year-old Yamal, with the match likened to a master vs apprentice clash.

The hype reached fever pitch after social media was flooded with the viral photo of a young Messi bathing baby Yamal during a TV commercial. At first, many thought it was an AI-generated image, but it’s indeed real and dates back to 2007.

During a UNICEF fundraising shoot at his former club Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium, a 20-year-old Messi met Yamal, who was only five months old at the time and accompanied by his mother, Sheila Ebana.

The photo was publicly shared by Yamal’s father two years ago, which begged the question: Why didn’t he post it earlier?

“Because I told him not to,” Yamal said. “He put it on Facebook once, and I told him to take it down.”

“Comparisons were too easy. That was all people would talk about. I wanted to be Lamine. I didn’t want to be Messi. I just wanted to get where I could get. I asked him to wait.”

“When I’m Lamine, do what you want,” he added.

Both Messi and Yamal are products of Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy, where the Spanish star joined at seven years of age but the Argentinian joined from his home country when he was 13.

While the 19-year-old has a long way to go before he matches Messi’s accolades, Yamal has already won the World Cup and the European Championship. Messi won his first and only World Cup in 2022 but has two Copa America titles to his name.

Both players have won multiple Spanish La Liga titles with Messi collecting 10 in his 17 years at Barcelona compared with Yamal’s three consecutive triumphs since making his senior team debut in 2023.