Lionel Messi 'wants to do something' for the little Afghan boy with plastic bag jersey

Stories that melt your heart! Barcelona star Lionel
Messi is hoping to arrange a meeting with an
Afghan boy who shot to fame after pictures of
him dressed in a striped plastic bag jersey went
viral (read story here), Kabul’s football federation
said Monday, February 1.
Five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi idolises Messi 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.
Jorge Messi, Lionel’s father, told AFP on Saturday
that the footballer was aware of the photos that
made waves on social media and "wants to do
something" for his young fan.
The Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) on
Monday said Messi was keen to meet Murtaza as
soon as possible, though no date or venue has so
far been finalised.
"Messi has been in communication with the
federation to set up a meeting with the young
boy," AFF spokesman Sayed Ali Kazemi told AFP.
"We are working to see whether Messi will come
to Afghanistan or the five-year-old will travel to
Spain or they will meet in a third country."
The Spanish embassy in Kabul told AFP it would
do whatever possible to facilitate a meeting in a
European destination. Murtaza’s father, a poor
farmer in Ghazni’s Jaghori district, said he could
not afford to buy him a replica jersey, and that
Murtaza only had a punctured ball to play with.
Photos of Murtaza wearing a plastic striped bag
with improvised Messi 10 written on it has
touched a chord with football fans around the
world.