This is lovely.
You might remember pictures from earlier this year of a young boy wearing a blue and white plastic bag that he had managed to turn into an Argentina jersey with the name and number of the great Lionel Messi on the back.
After surfacing on Messi fan sites on social media, the pictures were circulated around the world and even came to the attention of Messi himself, who sent the young boy a signed Barcelona jersey.
Almost a year later, the pair finally came face to face in Doha in a wonderful scene that was captured on the official account of the Qatar 2022 organising committee on Tuesday morning.
The image the world wanted to see. The six year old boy who dreamed of meeting his hero, #Messi, finally comes true. #FCBinDoha pic.twitter.com/58FWn17b9A
— كأس آسيا تحت 23 سنة AFC قطر 2024 (@Qatar2023) December 13, 2016
Murtaza meets #Messi in Doha: the SC makes Afghan boy’s dream come true.. #الاهلي_برشلونة #FCBinDoha #littlemessi pic.twitter.com/sJiHwUUuVf
— كأس آسيا تحت 23 سنة AFC قطر 2024 (@Qatar2023) December 13, 2016
Six year old Afghan boy Murtaza finally meets #Messi. pic.twitter.com/ujA2wa81UB
— كأس آسيا تحت 23 سنة AFC قطر 2024 (@Qatar2023) December 13, 2016
Pics via Twitter/Road to 2022
According to the BBC, the young boy in question is six-year old Murtaza Ahmadi, who comes from the Jaghori District, in the eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan and was forced to flee the country to Pakistan in May.
Safe to say he won’t forget this moment for a long, long time.
