Afghan Boy Who Wore Plastic Bag to Look Like Lionel Messi Given Signed Shirt

The young Afghan boy who was photographed wearing a plastic bag to replicate the shirt of Lionel Messi in an image that swept across social media in January has received a signed shirt from the star.

With the help of his brother, Hamayon, Murtaza Ahmadi fashioned a blue-and-white-striped plastic bag to resemble the Argentina shirt worn by his hero, his father told CNN.

"

Young boy creates Messi shirt from plastic bag, Internet wants to help (via @br_uk) https://t.co/yqopZJqcIB pic.twitter.com/3a3SszwLHx

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 19, 2016"

When the picture hit the Internet, the 5-year-old from the Jaghori District, southwest of Kabul, quickly became the focus of a worldwide effort to help him meet the Barcelona superstar and get a real shirt.

It would appear that effort has delivered, as Murtaza was pictured on Thursday by UNICEF Afghanistan posing proudly in an Argentina shirt signed by football's biggest star.

[UNICEF Afghanistan]