The image first appeared on Turkish fan blogs, with the child said to be from the war-torn region of Dohuk in Iraq. The news quickly spread to other European countries via social media, and a campaign of sorts has been started in an attempt to find the youngster and get him a real shirt.
The Tweet from Juez Central reads: "Tremendous image. A child in Iraq manages to play in his idol’s t-shirt. The Beautiful Game".
Messi10stats, an extremely popular fan-run account with almost 700,000 followers, later claimed to have been in contact with the Barcelona captain`s representatives.
"They want to know who this kid is so that Leo can arrange something for him," they claimed, although there has so far been no acknowledgment from the star and lots of responsed accusing them of lying.
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