Little Murtaza Ahmadi Finally Meets His Idol Lionel Messi

MEP: Murtaza Ahmadi, the six-year-old Afghan boy who had plastic shirt of Lionel Messi, has finally met his hero on Tuesday in Qatar and walked out on to the pitch with him before Barcelona’s friendly match.

Murtaza met his hero Messi almost after one year when his images wearing plastic shirt had gone viral on the social media.

Messi responded by sending Murtaza a real Argentina shirt – but things got even more exciting for Murtaza this week when he finally got to meet his hero.

The meeting was arranged through the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

The boy’s unexpected fame has not been entirely welcome. After receiving constant telephone threats, the family was eventually forced to flee to Quetta in neighbouring Pakistan.

Murtaza’s father, Mohammad Arif Ahmadi, said he feared that his son would be kidnapped. The family first travelled to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, but could not settle there because of the high cost of living. They later moved to Quetta.

“I sold all my belongings and brought my family out of Afghanistan to save my son’s life as well as the lives of the rest of the family,” he said in May.

Despite the upheaval, he added at the time: “Murtaza hopes that one day he would be able to meet his hero, Messi.”