Threats force Afghan boy, fan of Messi, to leave the country
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 file photo, Murtaza Ahmadi, a five-year-old Afghan Lionel Messi fan plays with a soccer ball during a photo opportunity as he wears a shirt signed by Messi, in Kabul, Afghanistan. The father of Ahmadi says the family was forced to leave Afghanistan amid constant telephone threats. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File) (The Associated Press)
The father of a 5-year-old Afghan boy who received autographed shirts from his soccer hero Lionel Messi says the family was forced to leave Afghanistan amid constant telephone threats.
Mohammad Arif Ahmadi — whose son grabbed headlines when he was photographed wearing a homemade Argentina shirt with No. 10 on the back — says they have moved to Pakistan and settled in the city of Quetta, hoping for a better life there.
Ahmadi spoke to The Associated Press over the telephone from Quetta on Tuesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He says he feared that his son, Murtaza Ahmadi, would be kidnapped after becoming an internet sensation after pictures of him wearing a Messi shirt made out of a striped plastic bag went viral.
The father says "life became a misery for us."