A five-year-old Afghan boy has become an online sensation after pictures of him dressed in an improvised Lionel Messi jersey - made out of a plastic bag - went viral.
Murtaza Ahmadi idolises the Argentina international but his impoverished family in rural Ghazni province, to the south-west of the capital Kabul, cannot afford to buy him a real kit.
His elder brother Homayoun, 15, made him the plastic shirt with Messi's named scrawled in marker pen and posted the photos of Murtaza wearing it on Facebook two weeks ago.
"Our neighbour had thrown away grocery bags and Murtaza brought me one to make a Messi jersey," Homayoun, a student and also a Barcelona fan, said.
After the photos made waves on social media there were claims on Twitter that Messi himself wanted to find his young fan and give him a proper jersey.
And Jorge Messi, Lionel's father, confirmed his son was aware of the photos and "wants to do something" for his young fan.
Murtaza meanwhile cheerfully makes do with what he has.
"We do not have a football playground near our house and the only ball I have is punctured," Murtuza said. "But I love Messi, he plays really well, and I love the shirt my brother made for me."
Kicking the deflated football in his snow-covered village, he added: "I want to be like Messi when I grow up."
His father, Mohammad Arif Ahmadi, who is a farmer, only learned about Murtaza's new-found fame from relatives when he visited Kabul recently for medical treatment.
He said he hopes that his son becomes a great footballer one day.
"I want my son to become the Messi of Afghanistan," he said. "Murtaza wants to meet Lionel Messi in person one day. He asked me to buy him a jersey but I cannot afford it."