Lionel Messi recently made a five-year-old Afghan boy's dream come true. Murtaza Ahmadi - who went viral earlier this year when he was pictured wearing a makeshift Messi jersey out of a plastic bag - is now a proud owner of not one, but two signed jerseys from the football superstar.
As it turns out, the gift included two signed jerseys - one Argentina, the other Barcelona - and an autographed football, reports The Guardian. The present came from Lionel Messi and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
Afghan boy and Messi fan Murtaza Ahmadi, 5, with his plastic bag jersey on left. @UNICEFAfg w real one on right. pic.twitter.com/5vmSVmr9pL
— Kevin Ryder (@thekevinryder) February 25, 2016
Talking to CNN, Murtaza's father, Arif Ahmadi, said that it was "one of the happiest moments" of the child's life. In fact, the Messi fan has been wearing one of the shirts and has been playing with the football since he received them. "I love Messi, and my shirt says Messi loves me," Murtaza said, as quoted by UNICEF.
Earlier this month, the Afghanistan Football Federation "treated" the five-year-old kid "to a brand new Barca strip," and also got the opportunity to join the team's training at their soccer center in Kabul.
Murtaza has the real thing now! #LeoMessi helped make his dream come true & gave him signed jerseys & a football. pic.twitter.com/ls6nUOdaBL — UNICEF Afghanistan (@UNICEFAfg) February 25, 2016
Apparently, the gifts aren't the only thing in store for Murtaza. Lionel Messi, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, is currently working on setting up a meeting with his biggest fan.
The search was successful," ESPN FC said about Messi's global search for the boy after the story went viral. "Murtaza was found to hail from a remote region of southern Afghanistan, with Messi wasting little time in attempting to arrange a special meeting.
