Watch: Refugee boy meets Real Madrid team, gets stadium tour

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Watch: Refugee boy meets Real Madrid team, gets stadium tour

Madrid - The family had been given a tour of the club's Bernabeu stadium on Thursday; the club had used money from their advertising budget to pay for an apartment for the Syrian family in Getafe.

By AFP

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Published: Fri 18 Sep 2015, 7:35 PM

Last updated: Sat 19 Sep 2015, 3:39 AM

The Syrian refugee family whose plight was made famous when they were tripped by a Hungarian camerawoman as they fled were greeted by the stars of Real Madrid, including Cristiano Ronaldo on Friday.
Osama Abdul Mohsen and his two sons Mohammad, 18, and Zaid, seven, have been brought to Spain due to the initiative of Miguel Angel Galan, the director of a football coaching school in the Getafe suburb of Madrid.
"Little Zaid got to know his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo, with whom he was photographed on the pitch," the club said in a statement alongside a picture of the family with the World Player of the Year and a host of his Madrid teammates.
Mohsen told Real Madrid's website: "Real Madrid are my team, and my whole family's too. "It's a dream come true. I love Real Madrid, they're my favourite team and my whole family's too. I'm very grateful for the welcome given to us by the president. In Syria we dreamed of seeing a Real Madrid match, and now that's going to come true. I'm really happy".

Quoting Spanish daily, El Pais, The Telegraph reported that Cenafe's general director Conrado Galan had said that the club had used money from their advertising budget to pay for an apartment for the Syrian family in Getafe.
"When we saw the story of Mohsen published in the newspapers we felt terrible."
From the very beginning Real Madrid has leant its support to the refugees who have been taken in by Spain and, to this end, on 5 September the club announced its plan to donate one million euros towards this cause.
"The father of the Syrian family, who was tripped by a Hungarian journalist, and his sons met (coach) Rafael Benitez, the technical staff and the squad minutes before the final training session ahead of the game against Granada."
Mohsen is a former coach of Syrian first division side Al-Fotuwa and has been offered a job at the CENAFE coaches' training school run by Galan.

The family had already been given a tour of the club's Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Thursday by club president Florentino Perez. And they will also be present at the Bernabeu as guests of the club for the La Liga clash with Granada on Saturday.
On September 9, camerawoman Petra Laszlo was filmed tripping Osama as he fled with Zaid in his arms near the Hungarian border with Serbia. She was fired from the television channel she worked for and apologised for the incident, saying she had "panicked".
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