Afghan boy with homemade Messi jersey scores a real one

Ahmadi earned attention when he was spotted wearing a Messi jersey that was made up of a plastic bag and drawn on to look similar to the real thing. It was also patterned like the Argentina World Cup jersey.

The Afghan Football Federation said on its website it was in contact with representatives of Messi and would arrange for Murtaza to meet the player soon.

Last month, a photo of a five-year-old Afghan boy went viral.

“Murtaza found a plastic bag and ran towards me asking me to make a jersey out of it for him”, 15-year-old Homayoun told Al Jazeera. Both jerseys carried the message, ‘Con mucho cariño, Leo.'(Translation: “With much love, Leo”). Enlarge STR/AFP/Getty Images His brother helped him transform the bag.

“Murtaza can’t hold it. He is so excited by the news of meeting Messi. He kept repeating: I love Messi”, UNICEF Afghanistan spokesman Denise Shepherd-Johnson said. On Thursday, UNICEF Afghanistan’s Facebook page and the BBC shared some images of Ahmadi happily enjoying his new Messi shirt.

UNICEF said Thursday that 5-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi has received signed Barcelona and Argentina shirts from Messi. Maybe Messi’s gift will insipre Ahmadi to become a great soccer player himself.

The organization writes, “Like so many other children, he has the same right to thrive, play, and practice sports”. Among the gifts, were two autographed shirts and a signed football from the iconic player by UNICEF workers, reported CNN.