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Messi Baths Infant Yamal in UNICEF Photo, Brady Queries

7/19/2026

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Summary

Messi Bathes Yamal

A UNICEF photo by Joan Monfort at Camp Nou shows 20-year-old Lionel Messi bathing infant Lamine Yamal.
Messi called the image “crazy,” wished Yamal the best and said Argentina will try to silence him.
Yamal said Messi is “the best in history” but wants to defeat his idol.
Tom Brady asked Messi about the photo at Fanatics Fest in New York on July 17 2026.

Summary

Monfort Images Misattributed

Photographer Joan Monfort says the 2007 UNICEF calendar shoot draws many media requests while his images are reproduced online without credit or payment.
The bathtub picture, made for a Sport newspaper and UNICEF calendar, was paired with Messi after Sheila Ebana won the raffle selecting baby Yamal—whose parents are from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea.
Observers such as Mikel Merino and Mayor Zohran Mamdani later mistook the image for AI-generated.

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Messi Bathes Yamal

A UNICEF photo by Joan Monfort at Camp Nou shows 20-year-old Lionel Messi bathing infant Lamine Yamal.
Messi called the image “crazy,” wished Yamal the best and said Argentina will try to silence him.
Yamal said Messi is “the best in history” but wants to defeat his idol.
Tom Brady asked Messi about the photo at Fanatics Fest in New York on July 17 2026.

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