Following multiple rumours and false dawns, it appears we now know the identity of the mystery child in the Lionel Messi plastic bag shirt.
If that makes no sense to you, let us refresh your memory. A youngster, thought to be an Iraqi Kurd, was pictured wearing a blue-and-white plastic bag mocked up to resemble an Argentina shirt, with Lionel Messi’s name and number on the back.
A search began to identify the impoverished child, and after at least one admitted hoax it seems the BBC have got to the bottom of the mystery.
Kid in warzone wearing a plastic bag w/ Messi written on it. Hope it reaches to @FCBarcelona & they send him a shirt pic.twitter.com/I567SRrB7a
— . (@xJude22) January 16, 2016
BBC Trending spoke to Arif Ahmadi, whose son Murtaza is thought to be the child in question.
The family lives in Afghanistan, not Iraq, and Murtaza’s brother Hamayon is thought to have taken the picture.
“This little kid really loves Messi and football. It is not possible for us to buy [a jersey] for him. Because I am a simple farmer. So the kids decided to use the plastic,” Arif told the broadcaster.
Mystery solved – or so it seems.
