Lionel Messi sends warning to Lamine Yamal ahead of tonight's World Cup final

Lionel Messi has warned Lamine Yamal he is going to do everything in his power to ensure the World Cup torch isn't passed to the teenage sensation just yet.

The World Cup final on Sunday will be competed by Argentina and Spain, but the narrative has focussed on Lionel Messi, one of the game's greatest ever players in possibly his last World Cup at 39, taking on an incredible young player who is hoping to replicate him.

However, Messi is determined not to let his potential successor Lamine Yamal knock him off the throne in New Jersey.

"Well Lamine is a huge player which I follow a lot because he plays for a club that I love," Messi said, translated from Spanish, on stage when answering a question from Tom Brady in New York on Friday 17 July.

"I wish him the best always, and he is one of the leaders worldwide at 19 years of age.

"He has his whole career ahead of him. He has a great opportunity to attain something historical which we intend to give our maximum so that it's not this time."

Yamal is competing in his first World Cup final after helping Spain win the Euro 2024 trophy over England two years ago, while Messi is set to become just the second player ever, after Brazil's Cafu, to play in three finals.

If both play, it'll be the first time they've faced one another on the pitch.

Messi comments on that photo with Yamal

To make the storyline even more perfect, Messi, 20 at the time, was photographed bathing Yamal in 2007 when the 19-year-old was just five-months-old in a remarkable coincidence.

Messi was asked what the image means to him and replied: “That photo is crazy because... well, it's life.

“I had that photo with him when he was a baby. For us to be facing each other in a World Cup final, how I said before, it's craziness.

"He's one of the best in the world at the moment without a doubt and I wish him the best of luck, because his well-being will be Barcelona's well-being as well."

The photos have become iconic since they re-emerged in the wake of Yamal inspiring Spain to European Championship triumph.

They were taken by photographer Joan Mondort in the away dressing room at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium.

Yamal's father had won a competition run by a local newspaper in collaboration with UNICEF where winners got the chance to have professional photos taken with Barcelona players.

By a stroke of cosmic chance, Yamal got Messi.

"It is a true miracle of destiny", Monfort told BBC Sport.

"It is serendipity - when you find something extra special, so much bigger than you ever thought.

"If you wrote this in a film it would not seem possible."

The World Cup final is scheduled to kick-off at 8pm BST in the MetLife Stadium, despite concerns about air quality from smoke blown down from Canadian wildfires.

At the same event, Spain captain Rodri said: “What Messi means as a player and for Argentina goes beyond words. Obviously, for me, he’s the greatest of all time.

“But Argentina is more than just Messi. They are a very complete team with top-tier players.”

The pair were speaking at Fanatics Fest, where former American football star Brady slapped Logan Paul in the face while the pair bickered on stage.