The Barcelona star regularly sends gifts to disadvantaged children as part of his work with Unicef but has been touched by the case of the young Afghan fan
Lionel Messi has been overwhelmed by the impact of gifting Barcelona and Argentina shirts to young Afghan Murtaza Ahmadi, Goal has learned.
Murtaza reached a global audience last month as images of the five-year-old went viral, showing the young boy wearing a blue-and-white striped carrier-bag with 'Messi, 10' written on it.
Now Messi has sent a collection of Argentina and Barcelona shirts to Murtaza along with his friends and family, with an image released by Unicef indicating that the Blaugrana attacker had made the youngster's dream come true.
And the Argentine's work goes beyond gifting football shirts, with a spokesman for the 28-year-old telling Goal: "Messi's attitude is not giving only a shirt, but trying to give a better life to all of these boys."
Goal has learned that Messi regularly carries out such acts of charity away from the reaches of mass media, gifting shirts to other disadvantaged children, as part of his ambassadorial work for Unicef, which began in 2011.
The Barcelona star has taken part in many initatives since beginning his association with the Non-Governmental Organisation, choosing to use his privileged position to help those in lower economically developed countries.
- Goal