Barcelona neighbourhood watches with pride as Yamal faces Messi in final

The pitch where Spain forward Lamine Yamal first sharpened his skills, tucked inside a working class, multi ethnic neighborhood outside Barcelona, buzzed with activity on Thursday as residents looked ahead to the World Cup final pitting him against Lionel Messi’s Argentina.

Keba, an 18 year old Senegalese resident of the area, said the moment finally arriving where the two players face off feels incredible, pointing to Yamal’s well known admiration for the Argentine star.

Messi, 39, spent the peak years of his career at Barcelona after rising through the club’s youth academy, and a photograph that circulated widely online showing him holding a young Lamine Yamal, now 19, has captured attention ahead of Sunday’s final in New Jersey.

In the Rocafonda neighborhood of the coastal city of Mataro, children from migrant families played on a pitch behind a mural depicting Yamal’s face. Nearby, his grandmother, Fatima Nasraoui, sat with his 15 year old cousin Rayan on a bench watching the scene unfold. She said she wants Spain to win and that she plans to shout loudly if her grandson scores. Rayan said Yamal represents many good things to him, but described him above all as a brother figure, since the two grew up together in the neighborhood.

Yamal, born in Spain to a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, has consistently stayed connected to his roots throughout his rise in professional football. He has repeatedly honored Rocafonda with his signature 304 hand gesture after scoring goals, a nod to the neighborhood’s postal code. During this World Cup, he has worn a headband bearing the word Rocafonda, displayed the flags of his parents’ countries of origin on his boots, and spoken publicly about football serving as an example of racial and social integration.

Yamal’s connection to Rocafonda has turned the neighborhood into something of a symbol in its own right, a place where his rise from local pitches to the world’s biggest stage resonates deeply with residents who see their own backgrounds reflected in his story. As Sunday’s final approaches, that sense of shared pride has only grown stronger among the families and children who still play on the same pitch where Yamal once developed the skills now on display before a global audience.