Boy with homemade jersey gets real one from athlete

Argentine football star Lionel Messi has sent not one, but two jerseys to the five-year-old Afghan boy who became an Internet sensation last month when he was pictured wearing a plastic bag with “Messi” scrawled on it in marker pen.

Lionel Messi signed two jerseys as well as a soccer ball and sent them Murtaza’s way. He says they are waiting for a response about a meeting.

After the original story of the “boy in the bag” broke back in January, efforts were immediately launched to track down the boy.

UNICEF Afghanistan and UNICEF Argentina teamed up to get the gift to the 5-year-old.

Messi autographed the jerseys, writing “With much love” in Spanish on them, and added a football to the treasure trove, UNICEF said.

Messi’s club Barcelona also told CNN it would be willing to help – but stressed that any such meeting would be down to the player and his management.

“Then his brother made a plastic jersey for him and posted his photo on Facebook”.

Hamayon posted a couple of pictures of Murtaza in his plastic bag jersey and it didn’t take long for the posts to go viral. “I couldn’t provide for him”.

The young lad could convey a message of peace to Afghan children through soccer and to the wider global community, said the proud father.

UNICEF helped facilitate the shirt delivery as Lionel Messi is a goodwill ambassador for the organisation.

Murtaza’s father, a poor farmer in Ghazni’s Jaghori district, admitted he could not afford to buy him a replica jersey. “The right to play and practice sports promotes the well-being of all children, especially the most vulnerable trapped in emergencies around the world”.

“I feel very happy that he is famous now”, Ahmadi said.