SerpApi.Org
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY — The passing of the baton from Lionel Messi to Lamine Yamal took place in the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday, as Spain deservedly beat Argentina and their teenage hero played a starring role.
Yamal continues to take it all on his stride with minimum fuss, as he became the first teenager in history to win both the European Championship and World Cup.
The apprentice outplayed his master on the biggest stage of all. Yamal went to Messi and embraced him at the final whistle and the respect between them is huge.
MORE — Rodri dominates for Spain
But as Messi is set to depart, Yamal is now the star set to dominate the next two decades of the global game. He's been key in Spain winning back-to-back major trophies. He's still 19 years old. Remember.
Thirty-nine year-old Lionel Messi was largely anonymous in this final, as 19-year-old Lamine Yamal was the standout attacking player for Spain.
He took more shots, completed more dribbles and won more tackles than any other player in the final.
It has taken Yamal just a few years to do with Spain what took Messi almost two decades to do with Argentina.
"Lamine is incredible. He's a young boy but I think the most important for him now is to say congratulations to him because he's a young boy who won the World Cup today and it is the best moment in my life, and for him,” Pedro Porro, who has played on the right flank with Yamal for Spain throughout the World Cup and created a great understanding, told Pro Soccer Talk after the win. “It is incredible to play with him.”
His manager Luis de la Fuente heaped praise on Yamal for putting the team before himself and showing maturity.
“I’d like to express my sincere gratitude for him becoming a great footballer. He’s really sacrificed for the collective good. In my opinion he played a great World Cup,” De La Fuente said.
All over New York City ahead of this final Messi and Yamal were plastered all over billboards. They were everywhere. The narrative is set up that Yamal will replace Messi as the global superstar.
The narrative was set early in the final too. Yamal got free in the box twice inside the opening minutes.
First his low shot took a deflection and Emiliano Martinez somehow saved when heading the other way as Argentina hacked away. Then moments later Rodri played him in but the angle was too tight and his cross was cleared.
There were then audible gasps from the crowd as Yamal picked a high ball out of the air with a touch softer than a baby seal.
His ensuing cross was on the money but Spain's forwards didn't gamble and would have had a tap-in.
Meanwhile Messi tried to get on the ball but couldn't really impact the game, and was fouled on a few occasions in the first half when he threatened to turn.
Messi kept dropping deeper and deeper to try and get involved and was almost playing as a holding midfielder at times.
In the first half Yamal had almost twice as many touches as Messi. At the end of 90 minutes only one player on the pitch had fewer touches than Messi. His strike partner Julian Alvarez to underline Argentina's struggles in attack as they failed to have a shot on target.
When leading Argentina out for the start of the second half Messi looked worried. Most of the time he looks like he's smelled something bad. That was his vibe throughout the final.
In the second half Messi was reduced to going back on the edge of his own box to try and get on the ball as Argentina couldn't get him involved.
Yamal grew a little frustrated as Argentina doubled up on him and hacked away at him in the second half, the kind of treatment Messi is used to.
But he still skipped away and clipped in a beautiful cross for Ferran Torres, who put his close-range header straight at Emiliano Martinez.
At the hydration break in the second half Messi's brow was furrowed. Moments later Yamal left an Argentine defender in his dust with a clever move as the crowd gasped loudly, again, at his silky skills.
Messi was floored by Laporte in the 91st minute and looked exhausted as he peeled himself off the hot bobbly pitch.
Meanwhile Yamal had a curling, swerving free kick pushed away by Martinez in the 95th minute before extra time arrived.
It was fitting that Yamal was involved in Spain’s winning goal. He attracted two defenders to leave Pedro Porro wide open and his cross led to Ferran Torres scoring the winner. And just like that, Yamal’s journey to a World Cup champion before he turns 20 was complete.
So similar in terms of their journey, Yamal and Messi have total respect.
“I think the Barcelona thing is, obviously, a key connecter to the pair of them,” NBC Sports analyst and Arsenal legend Lee Dixon said. “And with their ability on the pitch, what Messi was like at the same age, I think there's a similarity there as well. And the enormity of what Yamal is doing at a young age is something that they can both share stories about. I'm sure they will. If you've got Messi as your mentor, then it's not bad, is it?”
The master and the apprentice had very different World Cup finals and it was Yamal celebrating at the final whistle of extra time as he sunk to his knees in delight and seemed overcome with what he had helped Spain achieve.
Messi bent over in despair, then grimaced as he took it all in after sitting on the pitch.
The master will of course still be way ahead of Yamal for many years to come, if not always, but Yamal showed his class when it mattered most.
And the similarities between the two are pretty wild when you see them play on the same pitch.
That famous picture of Messi holding Yamal as a six-month old is quite incredible, as they squared off in the final with the hopes of their respective nations on their shoulders.
Speaking about Yamal ahead of the final, Messi was asked by Tom Brady on the stage at the Fanatics Fest in New York City about that famous photo and facing the young Spanish sensation.
"Lamine is an amazing player who I follow closely because he plays for a club I love and I always wish him the best and want the best for him," Messi said. "He is one of the world's leading stars, at 19 years old and has his whole career ahead of him and he has a great opportunity to achieve something historic which will try our best to ensure doesn't happen this time. But I wish him all the best. Honestly, looking at that photo is crazy because well, that's life, right? I took a photo with him while he was a baby and today we are both facing each other in the World Cup."
Life is crazy and now Messi has passed the baton to Yamal to follow in his footsteps.
They both came through the academy at Barcelona. Have both been teenage sensations who play the game in a very similar way. Both are the inspiration for their nations and the x-factor. Both have reserved personalities but Yamal is perhaps already more lively and outspoken than Messi ever has been.
"I think if you're that good you have to have a mentality like that, because you're going to get kicked a lot," Dixon said of Yamal's incredible mentality and maturity. "You're going to get closed down, double marked and if you don't handle that at an early age, from my point of view as a full back my job would be to rattle him and upset him. If you can cope with that in the first 10 minutes of a game and you have that sort of mentality, you have half a chance."
Yamal is following Messi's path to greatness and he outshone him in New Jersey.
And now as Messi appears set to say farewell to the international game as he was in tears after the game, Yamal is just getting started.
