Video: Afghan 'Little Messi' gets jersey from Barca star

Argentine football star Lionel Messi has sent not one, but two jerseys to the five-year-old Afghan boy who became an Internet sensation last month when he was pictured wearing a plastic bag with "Messi" scrawled on it in marker pen.

Murtaza Ahmadi travelled with his family from eastern Ghazni province to Kabul to receive the gifts sent by Messi through UNICEF, where he is a goodwill ambassador.

"Murtaza couldn't stop smiling. He kept repeating: I love Messi," UNICEF Afghanistan spokesman Denise Shepherd-Johnson told AFP.

"I love Messi and my shirt says Messi loves me"
❤️..pic.twitter.com/POYdIbGhwe

— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) February 25, 2016

“I love Messi and my shirt says Messi loves me,” BBC quoted Murtaza as saying.

Messi autographed the jerseys, writing "With much love" in Spanish on them, and added a football to the treasure trove, UNICEF said.

Messi sent his 5 year old fan, Murtaza Ahmadi, a signed shirt and an autographed football. Dreams do come true.. pic.twitter.com/fU1wDDtTSa

— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) February 25, 2016

Purchasing a Messi jersey was beyond the means of Murtaza's poor family, members of the persecuted ethnic Hazara minority living in volatile Ghazni, near Kabul.

His elder brother Homayoun, 15, improvised the blue-and-white-striped plastic shirt with Messi's name scrawled in black marker, and posted the photos of Murtaza wearing it on Facebook in mid-January.

The image touched a chord with football fans around the world, and earned Murtaza the sobriquet "little Messi" on social media.

Murtaza became an internet star after pictures of him playing football near his home in eastern Ghazni province became viral.

They show him wearing the plastic bag - in blue and white stripes

5 year old Murtaza Ahmadi finally gets a signed Jersey from Leo Messi himself.. pic.twitter.com/ezV7LK5Y8G

— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) February 25, 2016

Murtaza’s uncle, an Afghan living in Australia carried out the task of putting BBC Trending in touch with his brother Arif - the kid’s father.

Arif, a farmer by profession, confirmed his son was the boy who struck a chord with football fans around the world and added that Murtaza was ‘extremely happy’.

The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), of which the Barcelona forward is an ambassador, helped to get the shirt to the boy, posting the picture of Murtaza on its Facebook page.

The Afghan Football Federation had said Messi was in contact with them to arrange a meeting with Murtaza as soon as possible, with the Spanish embassy in Kabul telling AFP it would do whatever possible to facilitate.

But a source close to Messi's entourage said earlier this month they could neither confirm nor deny the speculation regarding a possible meeting.

Setting up a meeting in Afghanistan, in the grip of a fierce Taliban insurgency, is fraught with security challenges.

Football and cricket are the two most popular sports in the war-ravaged country.

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