Spain and Argentina will compete in the Finalissima on March 27 in a match which will pit Lamine Yamal against Lionel Messi for the first time.
The fixture, which sees the European champions take on the South American champions, will take place at Lusail Stadium in Qatar, where Argentina won the World Cup in 2022.
It is the fourth time the Finalissima has been staged but just the second time the trophy has been competed for this century.
World champions Argentina are the current holders after beating Italy 3-0 at Wembley in 2022.
France won the inaugural edition of the competition, when it was known as the Artemio Franchi Cup, against Uruguay in 1985, with Argentina lifting the trophy with a penalty shootout victory over Denmark in 1993.
The game between Spain and Argentina will see Barcelona star Yamal come up against Inter Miami CF‘s Messi for the first time in his young career.
Yamal, 18, has regularly been compared to the 38-year-old given their similar trajectories at Barça, coupled with the fact they both play from the right wing, are left footed and wear the No. 10 shirt.
The Spain international has attempted to play down the comparisons, saying he has no intention being the next Messi as he focuses on his own game.
“I respect him, in the end for what’s he’s been, for what he is to football, and if we ever meet on a pitch, there will be that mutual respect because we are players and because, for me, he’s the best in history,” Yamal said last month.
“He also knows I am a player and I respect him, so it’s mutual respect. We both know I don’t want to be Messi and Messi knows I don’t want to be him. I want to follow my path and that’s it.”
However, it won’t be the first time the two have ever met. Messi incredibly posed with a baby Yamal in 2007 for a charity calendar, with the images going viral during Euro 2024 as Spain became European champions.
There are also photos of a young Yamal with Messi at Barça’s training ground, when the former was part of the club’s academy and the latter was still in the first team.
The Spain-Argentina game also comes just months before next summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with both nations among the favourites to win the competition when it kicks off.
