Lamine Yamal reveals what Lionel Messi told him during touching embrace

Lamine Yamal hugged Lionel Messi after the World Cup final (Picture: Getty Images)

Lamine Yamal

and

Lionel Messi

shared a moving hug after Sunday’s

World Cup

final and the Spanish superstar has revealed what the Argentina legend told him.

Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time in New Jersey on Sunday, with Ferran Torres calmly putting away the winning goal on 106 minutes.

It was an odd game, which saw the South Americans fail to have a shot at goal in 90 minutes and not manage one on target in the full 120.

The Europeans were in full control, but could not put the stubborn defending champions away, until Torres finally broke through.

There were ugly scenes after the final whistle as some Argentina players and staff landed blows on Spanish stars, with

FIFA

launching an investigation.

However, Messi stayed out of all that and instead embraced Spain’s young star Yamal, who is already a European and now World champion at just 19 years old.

It was a lovely moment as the 39-year-old appeared to pass the baton to the teenager and Yamal has revealed the special words that were shared.

It was a nice moment between former and current Barcelona star (Picture: Getty Images)

Yamal said, via Spanish publication

Marca

: ‘He’s the greatest player in history and someone I’ve always looked up to. After the match, I wanted to show him my respect.

‘He told me to keep following my path and that the future belongs to our generation. Those words are worth as much as the gold medal hanging around my neck.’

Yamal added: ‘If someone had told me a few years ago that I’d be here lifting the World Cup after playing against Lionel Messi, I would have thought they were crazy.’

Lamine Yamal 🤝 Lionel Messi

The heroes of both nations embrace at full-time ❤️

pic.twitter.com/xM2cCoroYY

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport)

July 19, 2026

Messi posted a message on social media on Monday expressing the deep pain of losing what will almost certainly be his last match at a World Cup.

‘The pain is immense, and this wound will take time to heal,’

he wrote on Instagram.

‘But I also hold onto all the good things… The matches we turned around by giving it our all—moments that will remain in our memories forever—and the support of an entire country which, combined with this group’s hard work and effort, brought us back among the world’s elite once again. It is hard to fully appreciate our achievement right now, but this group reached two consecutive World Cup finals.

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