The family of the five-year-old Afghan fan of Lionel Messi, who received signed jerseys and a football from the Argentinean footballer, has been forced to flee Afghanistan after receiving threats of kidnapping and extortion. Murtuza Ahmadi is now in Quetta, Pakistan, with his family, where his father Arif Ahmadi is hoping for a better life, reported the Associated Press.

"A few days ago I got a call from a local gangster. He thought that since my son had received these t-shirts from Messi that maybe he also got money and asked for his share," Arif Ahmadi told the BBC. The Ahmadis first went to Islamabad, but could not afford the high cost of living in the Pakistani capital, so they moved to Quetta.

Murtuza Ahmadi, who caught the attention of the Internet after wearing a blue and white plastic bag with Messi scratched on to it with a blue pen, still hasn't met his idol, despite the Afghan Soccer Federation promising to arrange a meeting with the Barcelona star.