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Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi is a man of his word.
Earlier this month, the Argentine superstar revealed his wish to meet the young Afghan boy who shot to fame after pictures of him attired in a striped plastic bag-made Messi jersey went viral.
- Messi keen to meet Afghan boy whose pics in plastic jersey have gone viral
Through the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the Barcelona goal-scoring machine kept his promise and gifted his five-year-old fan, Murtaza Ahmadi, two autographed jerseys and a signed football, CNN reported.
The development was confirmed in a tweet from UNICEF Afghanistan.
"Murtaza has the real thing now! #LeoMessi helped make his dream come true & gave him signed jerseys & a football."
The tweet was tagged with a picture of the boy showing off his new prized possessions.
Murtaza’s father, Arif Ahmadi, told CNN it was ‘one the happiest moment’ of his son’s life.
Murtaza became an Internet sensation earlier this month when his photograph with the plastic bag-made jersey went viral.
Unable to get a real Messi jersey, his brother rigged him up a plastic bag in the light blue and white colours of the Argentinian national team, with 'Messi' and the number '10' written on it with marker pen.