Murtaza Ahmadi’s dream of meeting his idol finally came true. The Afghan boy had become an online hit after wearing a homemade shirt bearing Lionel Messi’s famous number 10 has met his hero.
A photograph of six-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi wearing the shirt made from a striped blue plastic bag went viral in January and ended with the boy receiving a signed shirt from the Barcelona striker.
Image courtesy: Twitter
But now the pair have come face to face in Doha, according to Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising committee.
Barcelona are in Qatar to play a friendly against Al Ahli on Tuesday and Ahmadi will walk out on to the pitch with Messi.
“The image the world wanted to see,” tweeted the Supreme Committee on Tuesday. “The six-year-old boy who dreamed of meeting his hero, #Messi, finally comes true.”
Messi met Murtaza Ahmadi today ✌️ this kid’s dream of meeting Messi finally came true ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fdWDfrFv7h
— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) December 13, 2016
Remember Murtaza Ahmadi? The guy whose pic wearing a Messi shirt made of plastic went viral.
He met Messi today.— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) December 13, 2016
Ahmadi, who comes from the Jaghori District, in the eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, was forced to flee the country to Pakistan in May.