Murtaza Ahmadi travelled with his family from eastern Ghazni province
to Kabul to receive the gifts sent by Messi through UNICEF, where the
football star is a goodwill ambassador.
"Murtaza couldn't stop smiling. He kept repeating: I love Messi," UNICEF Afghanistan spokesman De
nise Shepherd-Johnson said.
Messi
autographed the jerseys, writing "with much love" in Spanish on them,
and added a football to the treasure trove, UNICEF said.
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.