Boy Who Wore Homemade Lionel Messi Shirt Reportedly Identified After Going Viral

You might recall the story of the young boy who went viral after a photograph of him wearing a homemade Lionel Messi shirt did the rounds on social media.

It depicted a boy wearing a blue and white Argentina shirt made out of a plastic bag with Messi's name and number drawn onto the bag.

The photo prompted a global campaign to locate the youngster, who was thought to be from war-torn Iraq, and Messi's own team reportedly were interested in finding him.

And on Tuesday, conflicting reports appear to have revealed his identity.

"

He says that the original pic was taken "2 years ago". He loves Messi because he's his idol @TeamMessi @barcastuff pic.twitter.com/70R69buzXe

— FC BARCA MEDIA (@BarcaBboy) January 25, 2016"

First a Kurdish TV station, Kurdistan24tv (via Mirror), identified the boy as Homid, a resident of Dohuk, Kurdistan, and claimed that the photograph was taken two years ago.

But since then, reports BBC Trending, Australia-based Azim Ahmadi has come forward to claim that the photo was in fact of his five-year-old nephew, Murtaza, from rural Afghanistan.

The search was apparently only initially based around Dohuk because of a false rumour spread on Twitter.

Azim's brother, Arif, told the BBC: "This little kid really loves Messi and football. It is not possible for us to buy [a jersey] for him. Because I am a simple farmer. So the kids decided to use the plastic."

"

Images: Boy wearing Messi shirt made of plastic bag has been located #fcblive [via @illmindofrobin @messimagician10] pic.twitter.com/lRGBZnr08q

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) January 26, 2016"

"He heard from friends who have internet. They called and told us about it. My younger son is also hoping that foreign countries help us meet Messi and if we could be good football players like him in the future."

[Mirror, BBC]