Reading Comprehension: Lionel Messi
Develop your reading skills. Read the following text about Lionel Messi and do the comprehension task.
Lionel Andrés Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi, born on June 24, 1987, is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for Barcelona and the Argentine national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of his generation and is frequently considered the world’s best contemporary player. His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, and Messi has received Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, winning both by the age of 22. Diego Maradona once declared that Messi was his “successor.”
Messi’s talent was recognized early by his father, and he quickly caught the attention of Barcelona when he began playing with the local team. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, a medical condition that requires costly treatment. In 2000, he left Newell’s Old Boys’ youth team in Rosario and moved with his family to Europe, as Barcelona offered treatment for his condition. Making his debut in the 2004-05 season, Messi broke the La Liga record for the youngest footballer to play a league game and also the youngest to score a league goal. Major honors soon followed as Barcelona won La Liga in Messi’s debut season and achieved a double of the league and Champions League in 2006. His breakthrough season came in 2006-07, becoming a first-team regular, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico, and finishing with 14 goals in 26 league games. Perhaps his most successful season was the 2008-09 season, in which Messi scored 38 goals to play an integral part in a treble-winning campaign.
Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals, including two in the final game. Shortly thereafter, he became an established member of Argentina’s senior international team. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and won a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year. In 2008, he won his first international honor, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team.
As the squad’s captain from August 2011, he led Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which he won the Golden Ball, the 2015 Copa América, winning the Golden Ball, and the 2016 Copa América. After announcing his international retirement in 2016, he reversed his decision and led his country to qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a third-place finish at the 2019 Copa América, and victory in the 2021 Copa América, while winning the Golden Ball and Golden Boot for the latter. At the peak of his achievements, he led his team to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where he won a record second Golden Ball, scored seven goals including two in the final, and broke the record for most games played at the World Cup (26), later receiving his record-extending eighth Ballon d’Or in 2023.
Source: Wikipedia
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