Messi Wants to Meet with Boy Who Made His Jersey from Plastic Bag

News

 | February 1, 2016 | By Margo Gothelf

In January, a picture was posted to social media of a young boy wearing a blue and white striped plastic bag with Lionel Messi’s name and number drawn on top. Since the picture was posted, it has gone viral launching a campaign to find the mystery boy and bring him together with his hero.

Murtaza Ahmadi, originally thought to be from war-torn Iraq, was found in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. The five-year-old boy worships Messi, but because his family is very poor, they cannot provide a proper jersey for the mega fan.

Since the family can not provide a jersey, Ahmadi’s older brother, Homayoun, took creative measures to craft a homemade version for his younger brother. He simply took the blue and white stripped plastic “shirt” and wrote Messi’s name and number with a marker.

? The kid's name is Murtaza Ahmadi. He's 5 years old. Homayoon is his elder brother (right) who posted the pic. pic.twitter.com/KeZCJytyld

— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) January 27, 2016

“We can’t even imagine buying the original Messi jersey. We just can’t afford it so, to make my brother happy, I made a shirt out of that plastic bag for him.” Ahmadi’s brother Homayoun shared with Al Jazeera.

The 15-year-old then posted the picture to Facebook, eventually getting the attention of Jorge Messi, the father and agent of Lionel.

Jorge shared that Messi was “aware of the photos and wants to do something for the boy,” Sky News shared.

The Afghanistan Football Federation spoke out saying: “Messi was keen to meet Ahmadi as soon as possible.”

“We’ve been contacted by Messi’s management team and they have expressed their interest in meeting the boy. We are doing our best to coordinate their meeting,” AFF Spokesman Syed Ali Kazemi shared with Al Jazeera. “The date and the venue is still not confirmed yet, but there are chances of Ahmadi flying to Spain to meet his idol.”

Hopefully Ahmadi will be able to meet with his hero soon.

“I love Messi and football.” The five-year-old shared with Al Jazeera. “I will meet him one day,”