ANECDOTES

● The first time he played football, he was 5 and was coached by his father.

● His grandmother Celia took him to a football club as a child. She died when

he was 11 years old but even now, whenever he scores a goal, he points up to

heaven to remember his beloved granny.

● Barca were so desperate to have Messi playing in their club that his first

contract was signed on a paper napkin.

● When he was 16, he played his first football game for FC Barcelona. He was

the youngest player and goalscorer in the highest division.

● In 2009, Messi won his first Ballon d'Or (an award for the best footballer

in the world that year). He went on to win it for the next three years,

becoming the first player to win it 4 times, and then again in 2015! He also

holds the world record for most goals in a year –

scoring an incredible 91 goals in 2012!

● Messi has set up a charity to help poor and ill

children. To help raise money for the charity, a

jeweller made a solid gold replica of his left

foot. It was sold for $5.25m!

● On Newell's pitch, people asked him to do

keepy-uppies before the game. On one occasion,

he got up to 1,200 touches and he was just 9!

CHARITY WORK

Lionel founded his own organization in 2007 to help

sick children. He travelled to Haiti so that people
learned about people suffering there after an
earthquake. In 2020, he donated a lot of money to
Argentinian and Spanish hospitals so that they could help treat
coronavirus patients.

TIME TO WORK!

a. READ ABOUT LIONEL MESSI AGAIN. THEN, CHOOSE THE CORRECT

1. What happened when Leo started to play football in Rosario?

European clubs were attracted to his skills.

He didn’t show any skills at all.

2. Where did he move?

He moved to Argentina with his dad.
He moved to France.
He moved to Spain.

3. Was it difficult for his family to stay in Spain?

Yes, it was difficult but they stayed.

Yes, it was so they all went back to argentina.
Yes, it was, his mum and siblings went back to argentina.

c. Draw 4 lines to match the parts of the sentences

Sequencing: Number the events from 1 to 4 to show the order that they happened
in.