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When This Afghan Kid Met Lionel Messi, He Simply Refused To Leave

If this doesn't melt your heart, your heart is unmeltable.
What. A. Moment.
AFP/Getty Images
What. A. Moment.

The universe needed this. We did too.

So in Afghanistan, there lives a kid called Murtaza Ahmadi. Kid's just six and he loves Lionel Messi, the Argentine football star who plays his club football with Barcelona, and is the only man to win the Ballon d'Or (World's Best Player) trophy five times.

Back in January, a picture of young Murtaza wearing a home-made Lionel Messi Argentina shirt went viral. He fashioned the shirt out of a plastic bag. Get out of here.

This was back on January 29. There's been a blizzard of publicity since then.
AFP/Getty Images
This was back on January 29. There's been a blizzard of publicity since then.

One thing led to another, and thanks to UNICEF intervention, Messi sent young Murtaza a signed shirt. What a guy.

Yep, Lio signed right there. Murtaza was just five when this pic was taken in Afghanistan in February.
Omar Sobhani / Reuters
Yep, Lio signed right there. Murtaza was just five when this pic was taken in Afghanistan in February.

But this gets better. Messi's Barcelona was playing a friendly match in Qatar this week. Barca is sponsored by Qatar Airways and it was playing local team Al-Ahli. The bigwigs involved in Qatar's 2022 FIFA World Cup were all there too, so it was a real beehive of money and power.

Into this very complicated grown-up world walked little Murtaza Ahmadi. He and his family had been flown over by an organisation with the grandiose title of "Qatari Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy". Uh huh.

Awesomeness ensued.

The really cute part was when the kid wouldn't leave the field. Hey, he'd come this far to see Lio. Why not stay by his side on the field?

Off you go kid, it's time for us to play now.
AFP/Getty Images
Off you go kid, it's time for us to play now.

Eventually, with the help of officials, he made his way to the sideline.

Kid had white line fever.
AFP/Getty Images
Kid had white line fever.

For the record, Barcelona won 5-3 and Messi scored. But the only scoreline that mattered was Humanity 1 - Cynicism 0.

If

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