Sports

Messi meets Afghan boy famed for plastic bag shirt

A six-year-old Afghan boy, who shot to Internet fame this year by sporting a Lionel Messi shirt made out of a plastic bag, fulfilled his dreams on Tuesday by meeting the Argentine soccer great.Murtaza Ahmadi, from Ghazni province in rural eastern Afghanistan, accompanied Messi on to the field in Qatar before a friendly match between Barcelona and Saudi Arabia`s Al-Ahli in Doha.Murtaza also joined the Barcelona team photograph and placed the ball on the centre circle before running back to Messi`s side, with the referee having to take the grinning boy from the field.Murtaza`s picture went viral in January when his family, lacking the money to buy the Argentina shirt he wanted, fashioned a shirt for him from a blue and white plastic bag with "Messi 10" scrawled on the back.In February, he received Argentina and Barcelona shirts in a package, along with a ball, from five-times world player of the year Messi. Source: Reuters