Lamine Yamal was still on the MetLife Stadium pitch, gold medal around his neck, when Lionel Messi walked over and delivered a message the teenager later said meant as much as the trophy itself.

“He told me to keep going my way and that the future belongs to our generation,” Yamal told ESPN after Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina on 19 July.

“Those words mean as much to me as the gold medal around my neck.”

The 19-year-old described Messi as “someone I’ve always admired.” Their embrace at full time was captured on the world feed before either had spoken to the media.

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Two Barcelona generations

Both came through FC Barcelona’s La Masia academy. Messi arrived at 13. Yamal joined at seven, a year after being scouted from Rocafonda, a working-class district in Mataró, roughly 20 miles northeast of Barcelona.

Half of Rocafonda’s population lives below the poverty line, according to the same profile.

His mother, Sheila Ebana, is from Equatorial Guinea. His father, Mounir Nasraoui, emigrated from Morocco.

Yamal made his Barcelona senior debut at 15, the club’s youngest player since 1922, and his Spain debut at 16. He is now the third-youngest player to appear in a World Cup final.

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Torres wins it in extra time

Spain took the trophy on Ferran Torres’s 106th-minute finish, struck with his left foot just under the crossbar after he entered as a 62nd-minute substitute.

Argentina played the whole of extra time a man short after Enzo Fernández was sent off in the 93rd minute for a second yellow on Pau Cubarsí.

Emiliano Martínez kept the score at 0-0 through regulation with 12 saves, a record for a World Cup final. Luis de la Fuente, 65, became the oldest coach to win the tournament. Spain outshot Argentina 20-3.

Messi’s pre-final line on Yamal

Messi had already spoken warmly about Yamal in the build-up, calling him “a tremendous player” and “a global star” with “his whole career ahead of him.”

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Yamal is contracted at Barcelona through 2031 on reported annual wages of €19m. His next competitive assignment is the opening round of the 2026-27 LaLiga season.

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