Afghan youngster Murtaza Ahmadi – who became an internet sensation earlier this year – finally got the opportunity to meet his idol Lionel Messi, and even walked out onto the pitch with the Argentinian superstar before Barcelona’s friendly against Al Ahli.
Earlier in the year, Murtaza Ahmadi became an internet star on social media after a picture of him wearing a blue-and-white striped “Messi 10” shirt made of a plastic bag went viral. After the BBC and UNICEF located the young boy in a village in Afghanistan, Messi showed his appreciation by sending an autographed Argentina shirt to Ahmadi.
Now Ahmadi has finally met his hero in person, with Barcelona travelling to Qatar to play a friendly. And that was not all, as Murtaza walked onto the pitch with his hero, brought the match ball to the centre spot and even managed to take part in the team photograph, standing alongside Messi the whole while.
Here’s a video of the youngster coming face-to-face with Messi on Tuesday.
Messi with Afghan boy Murtaza in Doha pic.twitter.com/J9V3E2lMEk
— Forca FCB (@forca_fcb) December 13, 2016