Murtaza Ahmadi, the Afghan boy who gained online fame after a picture of him wearing a makeshift Lionel Messi jersey went viral, has finally met his football hero in Doha, Qatar. Murtaza Ahmadi was shown dressed in a blue-and-white-striped plastic bag with Barcelona and Argentina star Messi's name and number etched in pen on the back in January. The image, which garnered global attention after it was posted on a Messi fan site, sparked a manic search by fans to find the six-year-old from Jaghori, southwest of Kabul.
Now, almost 11 months later, a series of images and videos showed Messi and Murtaza meeting for the first time. "The image the world wanted to see. The six-year-old boy who dreamed of meeting his hero, Messi, finally comes true," the tweet accompanying one video said. Another video showed Messi reaching out to hold hands with Murtaza, who was wearing a Barcelona jersey. Murtaza poses with the Barcelona team before its game against Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahli.
