Murtaza Ahmadi, shot to internet fame by wearing a plastic bag mimicking a Lionel Messi shirt. His dream came true when he walked onto the football pitch with his hero ahead of a friendly match between FC Barcelona and Al-Ahli Saudi FC in Qatar.
The pictures went viral and, after Lionel Messi’s biggest fan was identified and tracked down to Afghanistan’s eastern Ghazni province, efforts were made to bring Murtaza and the Barcelona super star together on a football pitch.
A video tweeted by the organisers of the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar shows the Argentinian forward scooping up Murtaza, now six years old, and posing for photographers. According to the tweet, the meeting was arranged through the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
This was simply one of the most heartwarming things, it was a simple case of dreams coming true. Seeing the joy in the little boy's eyes and the way he kept clinging to Messi was really beautiful.