KABUL (Web Desk) – Barcelona star Lionel Messi has sent a shirt to the Afghan boy who shot to fame after pictures of him wearing a homemade ‘Messi 10’ jersey made of a plastic bag surfaced online.
Five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi on Thursday received a shirt, perhaps, the most precious gift of his life from his hero — Lionel Messi, as he idolises the Argentine soccer star but a jersey of his favourite player is beyond the means of his poor family in the volatile province of Ghazni near Kabul.
His elder brother Homayoun, 15, made him the blue-and-white-striped plastic shirt with Messi’s named scrawled in marker pen and posted the photos of Murtaza wearing it on Facebook in mid-January.
Messi’s management team confirmed on Thursday that Murtaza was sent an autographed Argentina shirt and football from the five time Ballon d’Or winner.
“I love Messi and my shirt says Messi loves me,” BBC quoted Murtaza as saying.