An Afghan boy who became an internet sensation after pictures of him wearing an improvised Lionel Messi football shirt went viral finally got to meet his superstar idol on Tuesday.

Murtaza Ahmadi met the Barcelona forward in Doha, where the Spanish league champions are due to play a friendly match against Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli later.

Six-year-old Murtaza, from Ghazni province walked out onto the pitch as a mascot hand-in-hand with the Argentinian at the start of the match at Doha's Al-Gharrafa stadium.