A six-year-old Afghan boy, who shot to into fame this year by sporting a Lionel Messi shirt made out of a plastic bag, fulfilled his dreams on Tuesday by meeting the Argentine soccer great in Doha, Qatar.
In January this year, pictures emerged of Murtaza Ahmadi who was five-year-old as at the time wearing a blue-and-white striped plastic bag to emulate the colours of the Argentinian team. On the back of the bag was scrawled the legend: “Messi 10” etched in blue pen.
The pictures went viral and, after Messi’s biggest fan was identified and tracked down to Afghanistan’s eastern Ghazni province, efforts were made to bring Murtaza and the Barcelona star together.
Murtaza was given two autographed shirts and a signed football from the Messi by UNICEF workers in February, a gesture his father, Muhammad Arif Ahmadi, described to CNN at the time as “one of the happiest moments” of his son’s life.
Almost 11 months later, a series of images and videos posted on social media by Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee Tuesday showed Messi and Murtaza meeting for the first time.
Murtaza Ahmadi accompanied Messi on to the field in Qatar before a friendly match between Barcelona and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli in Doha.
Murtaza also joined the Barcelona team photograph and placed the ball on the centre circle before running back to Messi’s side, with the referee having to take the grinning boy from the field.
Watch Video Below
In January this year, pictures emerged of Murtaza Ahmadi who was five-year-old as at the time wearing a blue-and-white striped plastic bag to emulate the colours of the Argentinian team. On the back of the bag was scrawled the legend: “Messi 10” etched in blue pen.
The pictures went viral and, after Messi’s biggest fan was identified and tracked down to Afghanistan’s eastern Ghazni province, efforts were made to bring Murtaza and the Barcelona star together.
Murtaza was given two autographed shirts and a signed football from the Messi by UNICEF workers in February, a gesture his father, Muhammad Arif Ahmadi, described to CNN at the time as “one of the happiest moments” of his son’s life.
Almost 11 months later, a series of images and videos posted on social media by Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee Tuesday showed Messi and Murtaza meeting for the first time.
Murtaza Ahmadi accompanied Messi on to the field in Qatar before a friendly match between Barcelona and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli in Doha.
Murtaza also joined the Barcelona team photograph and placed the ball on the centre circle before running back to Messi’s side, with the referee having to take the grinning boy from the field.
Watch Video Below
No comments:
Post a Comment