Argentine Lionel Messi will become the oldest outfield player to feature in a World Cup final on Sunday, while Spain's Lamine Yamal aims to join the elite of teenage winners.

The match at MetLife Stadium will be the first encounter between Messi, Argentina's captain, and the player who succeeded him as Barcelona's new golden boy.

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No player has appeared in a World Cup final at an older age than Messi except Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff, who was 40 in 1982. At the opposite end, Yamal only turned 19 last Monday, a day before Spain beat France 2-0 in the semi-final. Everything has happened at lightning speed for Yamal, who made his Barcelona debut at 15. His international debut for Spain came at 16, and shortly after his 17th birthday he helped La Roja win the Euro 2024 final against England, where he was named Young Player of the Tournament. Yamal finished runner-up to France's Ousmane Dembélé in last year's Ballon d'Or race, and now has a chance to join a select group of players who have won the World Cup as teenagers.

Messi said on Friday: 'He is a global icon at 19, and he has a chance to achieve something historic, but we will do everything we can to stop him.'

Yamal had suffered an injury before the World Cup, and his participation was even in doubt after he missed the end of the season with Barcelona.

Yamal admitted: 'I was afraid the injury was serious, and above all I feared that even if it wasn't, I might have a relapse and ultimately miss the World Cup.'

- 'Genius' -

Yamal only appeared as a substitute in Spain's opening match, a goalless draw with Cape Verde, and was substituted at half-time after scoring in the 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the second group game.

Since then he has started every match, albeit without the devastating impact he had hoped to make.

Spain have lacked the direct play that made them so dangerous at Euro 2024 as a result, but Yamal will be in the lineup against the defending champions.

At 19 years and six days, he will become the third youngest player to feature in a World Cup final, and his teammate Pau Cubarsí, six months older, is not far off.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente described Yamal during this World Cup as a 'genius' on par with (the world-renowned Spanish painter) Salvador Dalí or (the Italian painter, poet and sculptor) Michelangelo.

He said: 'They are different. What seems exceptional to us does not seem so to them.'

- Pelé and Bergomi -

The only two players to appear in a World Cup final at a younger age are Pelé, who was 17 years and 249 days old when he scored twice in Brazil's 1958 win over Sweden, and Giuseppe Bergomi.

The latter was 18 when he featured in Italy's 1982 victory over West Germany.

So far, only eight players have won the World Cup as teenagers, while Pelé and France's Kylian Mbappé remain the only ones to have scored in the final before turning 20.

Mbappé was 19 when France won the title in 2018, but his hopes of winning it again this year were dashed by Yamal and Spain in the semi-final.

Now Yamal hopes to shatter Messi's dream of winning a second world title, and thereby cement his status as the next true global superstar in football.

Remarkably, they face each other on Saturday, nearly two decades after a photo was taken of a 20-year-old Messi bathing a five-month-old Yamal in a blue plastic tub as part of a UNICEF photo shoot.

Messi said: 'That photo is amazing.'

Former French star Thierry Henry, who won the World Cup at age 20, added in an interview with Fox: 'Lamine Yamal versus Leo Messi: it's the future versus the past, the present, the future and eternity.'