LIONEL MESSI and Lamine Yamal will reunite as they battle it out in the Finalissima – but fans have no idea what it is.
Lauturo Martinez’s extra-time strike fired Argentina to a second successive Copa America title and a record-breaking third triumph.
And it also came as a massive relief for Messi who was forced off early in tears due to a horror ankle injury.
Elsewhere, Spain capped off their superb Euro 2024 tournament with a 2-1 win over Gareth Southgate‘s England in the final.
A match that saw Yamal the star of the show once again as he caused trouble to the Three Lions’ defence.
Now, the two superstars will go up against each other in the Finalissima and SunSport can explain everything on what it is.
Finalissima means ‘grand final’ in Italian and it is a match that sees the winners of the Euros face off against the winners of Copa America.
This means Spain’s Euro 2024 final victory against England has earned them a Finalissima match-up with Copa America winners Argentina.
There has only been three previous editions, having resumed in 2022 after being discontinued in 1993.
Argentina are the current holders after embarrassing Italy 3-0.
No official details have been released yet for the Finalissima 2025.
However, the last match between Argentina and Italy took place on June 1, 2022 so it is more than likely to be during a similar time.
The venue is still to be chosen but there is a possibility that the Finalissima could be played at Wembley in London as it was in 2022.
There has only been three Finalissima encounters and Argentina have won two of them.
Here are the previous winners:
LAMINE YAMAL has confirmed his status as football’s next superstar at Euro 2024 – but has only been playing 11-a-side games for four years, write Jack Rosser.
Spain’s incredible 16-year-old bent home the goal of the tournament so far against France as La Roja sealed the spot in the final.
But his first five years in Barcelona’s academy were spent playing seven-a-side football, up until the age of 12 in 2020 when he finally got a crack at 11-a-side games.
Yamal’s story is baffling, brilliant and barely believable in equal measure.
He is a boy born to a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, who turns 17 tomorrow and was cradled by footballing royalty at just six months old.
Staggering pictures of Yamal as a baby being held and bathed by Messi, taken for a Barcelona charity calendar 16 years ago, resurfaced this week.
He did not restrict his brushes with greatness to Barcelona either, with footage of Yamal as an academy player walking as a mascot with Spain and Real Madrid icon Sergio Ramos at an El Clasico in 2016.
There is a touch of fate about this gem, Spain’s “little MVP”, as team-mate Nico Williams has dubbed him.
Yamal has been doing homework in his spare time and received exam results during the tournament. He passed, obviously.
Now he’s the youngest ever goalscorer at the Euros, also becoming the youngest player to ever start a major semi-final – claiming that title from Pele.
But it’s Yamal’s humble approach on and off the pitch that most impresses everyone he meets.
And France star Adrien Rabiot probably felt quite embarrassed as he boarded his plane back home from Germany.
He had tried to intimidate Yamal ahead of their semi-final clash – telling Yamal he “needs to do more.”
Was this good enough, then? Yamal responded with a goal for the ages and a man of the match performance.
A season which started with a pre-season game against Tottenham where Yamal excelled but was overshadowed by Oliver Skipp scoring a brace will end on the biggest stage European football has to offer on Sunday.
From being outshone by Skipp to eclipsing Pele’s records is not a bad year’s work – just imagine what he will do when he grows up.
Read all about the incredible rise of Lamine Yamal in full…
