DUSHANBE, February 26, 2016, Asia-Plus — The youngster pictured wearing a striped plastic bag with Lionel Messi”s name and number on it is now the proud owner of a real Messi shirt — thanks to the soccer superstar and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), according to
CNN
.
Murtaza Ahmadi — found in Afghanistan earlier this month after his picture became an internet sensation — was given two autographed shirts and a signed football from the iconic player by UNICEF workers, his father Arif Ahmadi told
CNN
.
Arif said it was “one of the happiest moments” of the five-year-old”s life.
His son”s only regret, he said, was that Messi — who scored twice for Barcelona as they beat Arsenal in the Champions League in London on Tuesday — was not able to have been there.
But Arif said Murtaza, unfazed by that, had been wearing one of the shirts and playing with the football ever since the gifts arrived.
“I love Messi, and my shirt says Messi loves me,” UNICEF quoted Murtaza as saying.
Earlier this month, the Afghan Football Federation told
CNN
that Messi”s charitable foundation was trying to set up a meeting between the five-time world player of the year and Murtaza.
Messi”s club Barcelona informed
CNN
it would be willing to help, but stressed that any such meeting would be down to the player and his management.
Asked about becoming an internet sensation, Murtaza told
CNN
from the family”s farm in Jaghori, southwest of Kabul: “The whole people in the world know me now.”
His father, who said the impacts of reports about his son from around the globe had “inspired me,” added that his dream was “to have a football stadium in our district.”
He explained that the plastic bag jersey had come about when he told his son “that we were living in a poor village far from the city and it was impossible for me to get him the shirt.”
Arif added: “He kept crying for days, asking for the shirt, until his brother Hamayon helped him make one from the plastic bag to make him happy. He stopped crying after wearing that plastic bag shirt.”
