Murtaza Ahmed, a six-year-old, had captured everyone’s heart when he had made an Argentina Messi number 10 jersey out of a plastic bag. The young Afghan boy’s family was so poor that he could not afford an original jersey and had created a replica of Messi’s Argentina jersey using the plastic bag.
The image had gone viral across Social media platforms and it had even led to Messi sending a signed jersey (pictured above) with a promise of meeting him in the future. Now, Messi has fulfilled his promise by meeting the lovable youngster.
Murtaza had said earlier that he loved Messi and would like to meet him some day. “I love Messi and football,” he had said in an interview with al-Jazeera. “I will meet him one day.”
“This little kid really loves Messi and football,” Arif (his father) had said. “It is not possible for us to buy [a jersey] for him. Because I am a simple farmer. So the kids decided to use the plastic.”
His elder brother Homayoun, who is 15, explained why they did:. “We can’t even imagine buying the original Messi jersey. We just can’t afford it,”
The pair came face to face in Doha today according to Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising committee. To top it all, Ahmadi who met his hero also got the opportunity to walk out onto the pitch with Messi when Barcelona played Al Ahli in a friendly on Tuesday.
The move was met with a lot of appreciation from fans all over the world and the look of wonder in Murtaza’s eyes when he saw his hero was something which warmed football supporter’s hearts all over the world.
Also read: Cristiano Ronaldo says he would have won more Ballon d'Ors than Lionel Messi if they were team mates
Yesterday, the Ballon d’Or winner was announced with Ronaldo beating Messi to claim the prestigious individual accolade. While Ronaldo might have edged out Messi last night, both Ronaldo and Messi have time and again showcased that they are true champions on and off the pitch.
Such kind gestures by footballers truly make football the beautiful game.
