Advertisement

Messi’s gift to the boy who played in a plastic bag

Photo: AFP/ABC

Photo: AFP/ABC

Argentine football star Lionel Messi has sent two jerseys to the five-year-old Afghan boy who became an internet sensation when he was pictured wearing a plastic bag with “Messi” scrawled on it in marker pen.

Murtaza Ahmadi travelled with his family from eastern Ghazni province to Kabul to receive the gifts sent by Messi through UNICEF, where the football star is a goodwill ambassador.

“Murtaza couldn’t stop smiling. He kept repeating: I love Messi,” UNICEF Afghanistan spokesman Denise Shepherd-Johnson said.

Why the A-League desperately needs Timmy
• Postecoglou wins Asian coach of the year award

• Cahill treble leads Socceroos to 4-0 win in Bangladesh

Messi autographed the jerseys, writing “with much love” in Spanish on them, and added a football to the treasure trove, UNICEF said.

Purchasing a Messi jersey was beyond the means of Murtaza’s poor family, members of the persecuted ethnic Hazara minority living in volatile Ghazni, near Kabul.

His elder brother Homayoun, 15, improvised the blue-and-white-striped plastic shirt with Messi’s name scrawled in black marker, and posted the photos of Murtaza wearing it on Facebook in mid-January.

messi afghan boy

The young Messi fan fashioned a jersey from a plastic bag. Photo: AFP/ABC

The image touched a chord with football fans around the world, and earned Murtaza the sobriquet “little Messi” on social media.

The Afghan Football Federation had said Messi was in contact with them to arrange a meeting with Murtaza as soon as possible.

The Spanish embassy in Kabul said it would do whatever possible to facilitate a meeting.

But a source close to Messi’s entourage said earlier this month they could neither confirm nor deny the speculation regarding a possible meeting.

Setting up a meeting in Afghanistan, in the grip of a fierce Taliban insurgency, is fraught with security challenges.

Football and cricket are the two most popular sports in the war-ravaged country — but sports were rarely played under Taliban rule, and the football stadium in Kabul was a notorious venue for executions, stonings and mutilations.

Watch a video of the boy testing out his new jersey:

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.