The power of football transcends borders and cultural boundaries.
A photo has surfaced on the Internet of a young boy, believed to be from the war-torn region of Dohuk, Iraq, wearing a plastic bag made to look like Lionel Messi's Argentina jersey.
Tremenda imagen. Un niño en Irak se las ingenia para jugar con la camiseta de su ídolo. The Beautiful Game. pic.twitter.com/O7iMtX1bhe
— Juez Central (@Juezcentral) January 16, 2016
The photo apparently touched the star's camp, which reportedly contacted a fan Twitter account in hopes of locating the child to "arrange something for him."
We got DM from Leo's team. They want to know who this kid is so that Leo can arrange something for him. RT & spread https://t.co/MylJyDOpsu
— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) January 18, 2016
Sweet. However, there's been no confirmation and/or acknowledgement from Messi's team, and, according to The Independent, many have accused @messi10stats, the very popular fan-run account, of lying.
BuzzFeed adds that "Messi hasn’t yet publicly acknowledged that he has seen the picture via any of his official accounts."