Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Colin Lowther.
Speaker 2: And I'm Alice Irasari. Spotlight uses a special English method
Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: The score was even. It was late in the game.
Speaker 1: He was running out of time. This was his last
Speaker 1: chance to win the only title he had not won.
Speaker 1: He had come close but failed in the past. His
Speaker 1: career was all most over. He had to do something.
Speaker 1: He needed to score one more goal. He needed one
Speaker 1: more special moment to lift his country to the World
Speaker 1: Cup Championship.
Speaker 2: Today's Spotlight is about Lionel Messi. We look at his
Speaker 2: struggles growing up in Argentina. We examine his rise through
Speaker 2: youth football. We talk about his accomplishments as the top
Speaker 2: football player in the world. We discuss his career long
Speaker 2: pursuit of the World Cup Championship.
Speaker 1: Football is often called the beautiful game. It combines strategy,
Speaker 1: a constantly changing field, and teamwork. The players athletic abilities
Speaker 1: are impressive. They often look like ballet dancers as they
Speaker 1: run and jump. Each team must kick the ball back
Speaker 1: and forth to each other. The players cannot touch the
Speaker 1: ball with their hands. Each team must keep the ball
Speaker 1: from the other while moving toward the goal. If they
Speaker 1: can kick the ball into the other team's goal, they
Speaker 1: get a point. The team that finishes the game with
Speaker 1: the ghost points wins.
Speaker 2: Lionel Messi grew up in Rosario, Argentina. He was smaller
Speaker 2: than other boys. When Messi was eight years old, doctors
Speaker 2: discovered he had growth hormone disorder. His brain did not
Speaker 2: make enough of the chemicals that told his body to grow.
Speaker 2: Messi's parents started injecting him with medicine to help him
Speaker 2: overcome the disorder. The treatment cost a lot of money,
Speaker 2: it was difficult for his parents to afford.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, Messi's skills as a young football player were improving.
Speaker 1: The football club Mull's Old Boys offered to pay for
Speaker 1: some of his treatment if Messi played football for them.
Speaker 1: As he continued to play better, the Spanish club Barcelona
Speaker 1: offered to pay for all his medical treatment if he
Speaker 1: played for their youth school La Massia. Messi and his
Speaker 1: family decided to accept the offer and move to Barcelona.
Speaker 1: The team paid for all his remaining treatments until he
Speaker 1: finished at the age of fourteen.
Speaker 2: Messi had a hard time when they moved to Barcelona.
Speaker 2: His new teammates teased him because he was so short. Also,
Speaker 2: Messi did not speak Catalan, the language of Barcelona. He
Speaker 2: spoke Spanish.
Speaker 3: Messi said, my teammates were big, rough and kind of mean.
Speaker 3: They did not pay attention to me. They spoke Catalan
Speaker 3: among themselves. I cried a lot. I would lock myself
Speaker 3: in my room and cry secretly. I did not want
Speaker 3: my dad to find out.
Speaker 1: Despite the hard change, Messi played well at the school.
Speaker 1: He continued improving his skills. He was very good at
Speaker 1: dribbling the ball. Dribbling is when a player kicks the
Speaker 1: ball around the field. Messi was great at dribbling the
Speaker 1: ball around defenders. He was very fast. He could run
Speaker 1: faster while kicking the ball than most defenders could run.
Speaker 1: He had grown to one hundred and seventy centimeters. He
Speaker 1: was still smaller than most of the other players, but
Speaker 1: Messi used it to his advantage. His smaller size allowed
Speaker 1: him to slip by defenders. He also had great balance.
Speaker 1: If a defender bumped him, he kept going. They nick
Speaker 1: named him the flea because he was so quick and
Speaker 1: hard to catch.
Speaker 2: While he was still in youth football, Messi helped Argentina
Speaker 2: win the International Federation of Association Football or FIFA World
Speaker 2: Youth Championship. At the age of seventeen, he turned professional.
Speaker 2: He joined Barcelona's senior team FC Barcelona. Over the next
Speaker 2: few years, he became the best player on the team.
Speaker 2: Barcelona named him captain. He set the record for the
Speaker 2: most goals scored in a season. He won the ballind'or
Speaker 2: or Golden Ball as the best player in football four
Speaker 2: straight seasons. When he was only twenty four, he became
Speaker 2: Barcelona's all time leading scorer. Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the
Speaker 2: best players Messi faced during his career, said.
Speaker 1: Messi is the best I have played against. But there
Speaker 1: was another player who challenged Messi even more than Ronaldo.
Speaker 1: He was the hardest person for Messi to beat, and
Speaker 1: he did not even play against Messi. He stopped playing
Speaker 1: six years before Messi turned professional. His name was Diego
Speaker 1: oh Maradonna. Maradonna was a hero in Argentina. He led
Speaker 1: Argentina to the World Cup title in nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 1: The World Cup is the biggest soccer tournament. It is
Speaker 1: held every four years. Only the top thirty two national
Speaker 1: teams from around the world attend. Maradonna was the last
Speaker 1: person to lead Argentina to the World Cup Championship. He
Speaker 1: was small and quick like Messi. He was a great
Speaker 1: dribbler too.
Speaker 2: When Messi turned professional, Argentinians expected that he would lead
Speaker 2: the national team to the World Cup championship. Everyone compared
Speaker 2: him to Mara Dona. They thought Messi would have success
Speaker 2: at the World Cup, just like Mara Dona, but it
Speaker 2: did not happen. Messi played very well in each World
Speaker 2: Cup tournament, but Argentina did not win. He was even
Speaker 2: named the best player in the tournament one year, even
Speaker 2: though Argentina lost. Messi played in four World Cups and
Speaker 2: reached the final game one year, but Argentina lost to Germany.
Speaker 1: Messi had a very successful professional career. He won a
Speaker 1: record eight Ballon d'Or award. FIFA named him the world's
Speaker 1: best player eight times. He won many league titles with
Speaker 1: FC Barcelona. He holds the record for the most goals
Speaker 1: scored for one club, but he could not win the
Speaker 1: World Cup championship like Maradonna. Some said he would never
Speaker 1: be better than Maradonna without winning the World Cup.
Speaker 2: When Messi was thirty five years old, he played in
Speaker 2: his fifth World Cup. Many said he was not at
Speaker 2: his best anymore. He was too old. They said he
Speaker 2: was not as quick, but they were wrong. In Argentina's
Speaker 2: first six matches, Messi scored five goals. He helped lead
Speaker 2: Argentina to the final match against France. France was led
Speaker 2: by a young star named Mbape. The match was close.
Speaker 2: It was tied with time running out. One of Messi's
Speaker 2: teammates kicked the ball towards France's goal. The goalkeeper blocked
Speaker 2: the shot, but Messi instantly kicked the ball again into
Speaker 2: the goal to give Argentina the lead, but France did
Speaker 2: not give up. They tied the game.
Speaker 1: When no one else was able to score, the teams
Speaker 1: had a shootout. Shootout decides the winner of a match
Speaker 1: that ends in a draw. Each team selects players to
Speaker 1: take turns trying to kick the ball past the goalkeeper.
Speaker 1: Whichever team makes the most goals wins the game. In
Speaker 1: the shootout, Messi and his teammates made their first four
Speaker 1: shots into the goal, but France's players missed two of
Speaker 1: their attempts. Argentina won and Messi finally had his World
Speaker 1: Cup championship. For the tournament, Messi scored a total of
Speaker 1: seven goals, assisted in three more goals, and was awarded
Speaker 1: the Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament.
Speaker 1: He is the only player to win the FIFA World
Speaker 1: Cup Golden Ball twice. Not even Maradonna did it.
Speaker 2: Many people once considered Lionel Messi too small to play football.
Speaker 2: They did not believe he could compete with stronger players.
Speaker 2: He would get hurt, he would not survive. But they
Speaker 2: underestimated Messi's bravery. They did not know how much he
Speaker 2: loved playing football. Now many think Messi is the greatest
Speaker 2: football player ever.
Speaker 1: Do you play or what football? Have you ever seen
Speaker 1: Lionel Messi play football? Who do you think is the
Speaker 1: best football player ever? You can leave a comment on
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Speaker 1: through our free official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Peter Anderson. The producer
Speaker 2: was Michyo Osaki. The voices you heard were from the
Speaker 2: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is
Speaker 2: called the Flea Lionel Messi.
Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye,