Lionel Messi to meet five-year-old Afghan ‘plastic bag fan’

This is so sweet…The 5-year-old a huge fan of the forward could not afford to buy a replica of his Argentina shirt, so made this version from an old carrier bag. The image went viral on social media last week and stirred up a campaign to find him so Messi could personally send him a real shirt. Murtaza’s cousin Azim Ahmadi who has been posting more pictures of his nephew online, was contacted by Messi’s agent to set up a meeting.
Then came the breakthrough.

In the last few days he was identified as Murtaza Ahmadi, aged five, from Afghanistan – and now Messi is planning to fly out to meet him. The news has since been confirmed by the Iraqi football association who are helping with the link up. ‘The leadership of the Afghan Football Federation (AFF) received emails from Lionel Messi and Barcelona regarding the meeting.’