Murtaza Ahmadi is an Afghan boy who unwittingly In 2016, when he was five years old, his image turned the world upside down. His older brother posted a photo with him on Facebook in which little Murtaza wore a shirt of his idol, Lionel Messi, but It was not an ordinary shirt, it was an improvisation made with a plastic bag named Messi and the number 10 written with a marker.. From there, his life changed to hell.
According to the Bleacher report, the life of Murtaza Ahmadi, who is now a new year, took a 180-degree turn after that photo was published, months later, Messi was able to find him and invited him to meet him, the appointment took place in Qatar, Murtaza in the company of his father traveled there to meet Messi in a friendly match for Barcelona.
The images of the meeting went viral again, it was a dream come true, Murtaza accompanied his idol on the field and for a long time did not want to part with him. Then he had to go home with nothing but memories, but nothing was the same. his family began receiving threats from the Taliban.
“Militants in the region called and said,”You got rich, you pay the money you received from Messi or we will take your son“, Said his mother Shafiqa, in 2018.
After the meeting with Messi Ahmadi family thought they would receive some form of financial support or perhaps have the opportunity to migrate and become refugees in Europe, like CR7, who during his time at Real Madrid helped a Syrian child take refuge in Spain for himself and his family, however, little Murtaza did not receive even “a rupee”, says his mother.
“When we went to Doha to meet Messi I thought he would be like RonaldoI thought he could do something, not for me, but for Murtaza, who is his big fan, though. he did nothing for Murtaza, compared to what Ronaldo could have done“Arif Ahmadi, the father of a child, explained.
After receiving several threats, the family decided to move Murtaza from his home province and move him to live in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a long way from home to live with his uncles, There, little Murtaza changed the freedom of the field, where he went out to play football, in a closed environment of the city, where he suffered because he could not make friends and stay away from his parents and brother. In addition, Kabul is a very insecure city, frequently suffering from terrorist attacks.
They don’t feel safe in the capital either. They fear that the Taliban will try to capture Murtaza because of the fame of his meeting with Messi.. They claim that extremists are looking for him. “They said that if they caught him, they would tear him to pieces.”, said the mother, Shafiqa, terrified, as reported by the newspaper El País.
This insecurity led his parents to decide to return Murtaza home, where he lives today at the age of 9 and, despite the forgetfulness and disappointment that his family feels for the Argentine star, Murtaza confesses that he is still a great admirer of Leo Messi.
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