Last month, social media rallied to identify a boy wearing a Messi jersey made out of a striped blue-and-white plastic bag. Well, the Internet has delivered and, in an amazing alignment of stars, it now seems the five-year-old boy may get to meet his hero IRL.
The tweeted image of Murtaza Ahmadi from Jaghori, Afghanistan, captured the hearts of people far and wide - including soccer legend, Lionel Messi himself.
Afghanistan Football Federation has confirmed that Messi will meet his 5 year old fan Murtaza at Camp Nou.. pic.twitter.com/HTNKlzxw3y
— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) February 1, 2016
Thanks to the powers of the Internet, the stars aligned, and the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) confirmed in its blog that it was arranging a meeting between Murtaza and his idol.
The story is a heartstrings-tugger, no doubt. Because Murtaza's dad couldn't afford the real jersey, his brother fashioned a mock-up using a plastic carrier bag. By turns sweet, by turns sad.
When I was growing up, it wasn't unheard of for kids to do this sort of thing if their families couldn't afford the big brand names. But back then, there was no world wide web. So there was never the remotest possibility of your dream actually coming to fruition - let alone having your hero catch wind of your little private fantasy.
I can't wait to follow this story through to its conclusion. Plaudits to Messi if he puts in some face time with his protege.
Imagine this little boy's expression... Maybe some dreams really can come true.
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