BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn't think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal.

Now those images of the longhaired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer's Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about – and gawked about – in the runup to Sunday's World Cup final, when Messi's Argentina will play Yamal's Spain for the biggest trophy in the sport.

"I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations," Monfort told The Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday.