Images courtesy: Twitter/@messi10stats and Facebook/Unicef Afghanistan
Remember that adorable five-year-old Afghan boy whose picture in a makeshift, plastic bag Lionel Messi jersey went viral? Guess what? He doesn't need to wear that blue-and-white-striped plastic shirt anymore. Murtaza Ahmadi can now wear his own, specially autographed Messi jersey sent to him by the Barcelona star himself.
In posts shared on Facebook and Twitter today, Unicef Afghanistan shared the happy news with Murtaza's pictures in his envy-invoking new jersey.
Murtaza first came into limelight when pictures of him, dressed in his plastic DIY jersey with the name "Messi" and the number "10" scribbled across it, went viral in January this year.
The photos spread through social media like wildfire until the Internet finally cracked who he was and where he was from. He was eventually identified as Murtaza Ahmadi from Afghanistan's Ghazni province.
"I want to meet Messi, spend time with him, I love the way he plays football," Murtaza had told AFP earlier. "I love him very, very much."
However, even though Murtaza's adulation for Argentine soccer star was more than evident, his family could not afford to get him the coveted jersey. Now, those days are far behind him.
"I love Messi and my shirt says Messi loves me," Murtaza told Unicef Afghanistan who helped him receive his gift.
It's impossible not to smile looking at his happy face now: