The Chinese boy who met Messi
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Abduhalik Hemdulla watches the 2022 FIFA World Cup with his parents. (People's Daily Online)

Hundreds of millions of fans cheered on Lionel Messi as Argentina won the thrilling World Cup final on Sunday.

But perhaps one of the loudest cheers of all came from a 15-year-old boy in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Abduhalik Hemdulla met Messi five years ago.

The handshake, group photo, hug – he can remember every moment.

It was the first time the boy had left his home in Yecheng county, Kashgar prefecture.

"I was excited to go by plane," he was quoted as saying.

Messi on TV was one thing, "but I felt his gentleness when I actually met him face to face," Abduhalik recalled.

After they shook hands, Messi picked up and signed a jersey and a soccer ball, then gave them to Abduhalik.

Abduhalik had studied how to reply.

"Gracias," he said.

He pulled a few walnuts out of his pocket and handed them to Messi.

It was June 2017.

Since then Abduhalik has clutched the precious ball to his arms whenever he watches a game.

"I couldn't bear to wear the signed jersey, so I put it up on the wall," he reportedly said.

Yes, but how did he meet Messi?

Abduhalik yearned to join his school soccer team, but he was a young, thin and weak boy.

The teacher told him to exercise and that if he learned to perform 10 keepie-uppies, he could join in soccer practice.

Abduhalik in 2017

He saved up money for two years and asked his PE teacher to buy him a football with it at the county seat.

"I was touched by his passion for football," said his PE teacher, who posted the boy's story online and which then went viral.

Abduhalik told the reporters he liked Messi.

"Messi, despite his height, always tries his best on the field," he was quoted as saying. "He shows great perseverance and I hope to be a dreamer like him."

With help of the media, he met his idol Messi in 2017 in Beijing.

Messi legacy

Today Abduhalik is taller, stronger. He could fit inside the signed jersey.

He didn't make the team, but he plays soccer with friends whenever he has free time.

He has watched every game Messi played, according to Chinese media reports.

"Whenever I want to back down from hardship, whether in school or in life, I just think about Messi," he was quoted as saying.

That meeting has also changed life and recreation in Yecheng county.

"The number of children who fell in love with soccer surged and the field filled with energetic students joyfully playing soccer," Wang Haixia told reporters.

Wang is director of the Yecheng county children's palace: a public facility in China where children engage in extra-curricular activities.

Since 2017 Shanghai Jingda Soccer Club has annually carried out good-will activities in Yecheng county, aiding youth soccer development in the county.

Today there are 46 soccer fields and 82 men's and women's school soccer teams in Yecheng county.

(Translated by Tai Yixin; Edited by Huang Jingjing; Source: w.dzwww.com, Agencies)