Shadowing Practice: The Entire History Of Messi - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Lionel Messi's life isn't what you think it is.
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He's the GOAT now, but what if I told you that years back he should have never even made it, from the accident that almost killed him to his record-breaking moment as a pro?
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This is the story of how Messi made it to the top.
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And I've got to start from the beginning, where Messi was lucky to still be alive in the first place.
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Messi was born on June 24, 1987, and his birth story wasn't anything to write home about.
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His parents Jorge and Celia were so poor that sometimes even getting what to eat was a problem.
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Leo was the last of the Messi kids, having older brothers named Rodrigo and Matias and a younger sister named Maria.
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Despite the challenges they faced growing up, Messi didn't let it bother him, because if there was one place he knew he could escape all that, it was his favorite sport.
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Football.
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As a young kid, Messi fell in love with the game, but because of how small he was,
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he found it hard to join his neighborhood youth team until the day Grandma Cecilia got involved, and everything changed.
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The local team was having a match, and as usual, everyone around turned up to see this one, including the Messis, the entire family.
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With the team losing 1-0, Messi's grandma came in at halftime and insisted that the coach put him in.
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And as soon as he did, the rest became history.
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Messi became so good that Grandma Cecilia had been able to convince his parents to save up
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and get him a pair of boots so he could join the neighborhood team.
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And at 11, Messi had become so good that the new old boys came calling.
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But you see, guys, just when it looked like Messi's career was on the up, he suffered the first big heartbreak of his life.
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Grandma Cecilia was dead.
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This one almost broke Messi down, and unfortunately for Leo, there was more bad news to come.
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Two years later, now 13, Messi's parents realized he wasn't growing like the other kids his age.
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He was under five feet, and they became so worried that they took him to the doctors, and that's when they found out the terrible news.
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Leo has growth hormone disease.
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This one came as a complete shock.
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There was hope, because according to the doctors, there were injections Messi could take to cure his disease.
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But the cost of these injections was so expensive, Messi and his parents couldn't afford that.
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At the time, Messi had started attracting interest from some top clubs in Europe.
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So Messi's parents reached out to them for help, but they all bailed out on him, until one club came through and saved Messi's life.
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Barcelona.
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They were so convinced by Messi's talent that they were willing to take up treating Messi and helping him grow,
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if in return Messi would have to sign for the Barcelona La Masia Academy.
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The deal was a no-brainer, of course.
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Messi took it.
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In a couple of days, Messi was all packed for Barcelona.
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But just before he hit the plane to leave, he still had time for one more goodbye.
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At the time, even though he didn't know it, Messi had found the love of his life, Antonella Rucuzzo.
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She was the cousin of his teammate at New All Old Boys, Lucas Gallia.
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And after meeting for the first time, it was love at first sight.
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Messi made Antonella a promise to come back to her.
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And just like that, he was off to Barcelona.
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to sign the contract that would kickstart his career.
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They'd saved Messi's life, and he was all set to become a Barcelona product.
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At La Masia, in a couple of weeks, the coaches had noticed Messi's talent and knew he was destined for greatness.
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The year was 2003, and now 16, Messi was part of the Barcelona team, taken on preseason tour.
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And on November 16th, Messi for the first time put on
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that iconic Barcelona kit in front of the entire world debut done.
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Now, it was about easing him into the first team, and in the 2004-05 season, Messi saw his game time increased.
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In the home game against Albacete, with a few matches to the end of the season, Messi finally set the no-camp on fire.
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He scored his first goal, and Pipu got the assist.
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Ronaldinho!
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He had taken up a special bond with Messi, and had started acting like his mentor and learning from a guy like that only helped Messi improve his game.
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Until Pep Guardiola came along and changed everything.
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The 2008-09 season, Messi had now transformed from being
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that kid with loads of talent to being on the edge of becoming a superstar.
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But it was clear he was just missing one final piece.
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He made his debut for Argentina, won the under-20 World Cup and Olympic gold months back.
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And even better, on a personal level, he now had Antonella living with him.
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Yeah, he'd gone back for her and made her his partner.
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The 2008-09 season was going to be special for Messi because,
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with Ronaldinho gone, the club decided to upgrade his jersey number from 19 to the iconic 10.
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Pep brought a new system that made Messi central to the team's style of play.
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And the results?
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Barcelona won the treble, with the highlight being that Messi header in the Champions League final.
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That season, in 38 games, Messi bagged a staggering 38 goals and 19 assists in all competitions.
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And this form was enough to get him crowned as the best player in the world, the Ballon d'Or.
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In 2010, Messi continued in the same fashion, winning the Ballon d'Or again.
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Not quite at the same level as a team, but on a personal level, Messi's numbers were up.
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This time with 47 goals and 12 assists in 53 games.
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And in 2011, he made it a hat-trick of Ballon d'Or's.
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This time, finally hitting the 50-goal mark for Barcelona.
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With 53 goals and 27 assists in all competitions.
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And going too clear of his new rival rival.
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At the time, the Messi and Ronaldo rivalry was just starting to heat up.
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Ronaldo had transferred to Real Madrid a season back, and El Clasico was now as heated as ever.
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Three Ballon d'Ors!
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Surely there was no way he was going to add a fourth, right?
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I mean, he couldn't.
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He just absolutely could not do it.
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Of course he did.
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He's Messi.
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2012 was a special year for Messi, because towards the end of it, he procured Müller's long-standing record for having the most goals in a calendar,
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hitting 91 goals in 2012.
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He had more goals than the Champions League winners that year.
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2012 was also the year Messi had his first kid, Thiago, meaning that scrawny tiny kid all those years back was now a dad.
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But after 2012, with the exit of Pep Guardiola, Messi and Barcelona struggled.
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Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or twice in 2013 and 2014 to reduce the gap to two.
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And 2014 must have been a pretty low year for Messi.
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Because of the international scene, he came within inches of winning the ultimate one, but watched it slip away.
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Despite winning the World Cup Golden Ball as the competition's best player, Messi and his Argentina team lost the final to Germany.
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The international disappointment didn't end there.
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In 2015 and 2016, he lost back-to-back Copa America finals,
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leading to many people calling him cursed and saying he never matched up to Maradona.
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Despite extending the Ballon d'Or gap between him and Ronaldo to two again, after winning it in 2015,
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another treble year, it started going downhill for Messi and Barca in the big one, European football.
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In 2016, a quarterfinal exit.
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In 2017, another quarterfinal exit.
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2018, the same thing.
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And in 2019, with Messi as club captain, they finally made it to the semifinals.
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But once again, another exit.
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2020 was a particularly low year for Messi.
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His idol Maradona died.
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And in the Champions League, well, this happened.
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But by 2021, things were about to go on the up.
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Because after 28 years in the home of their biggest rivals, Messi and Argentina finally did it.
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He'd finally won something with the national team.
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Looking at it now, it's funny how it works.
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A few weeks back, Messi was the happiest man alive.
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Fast forward to the middle of August and he was in tears.
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Barcelona was in a financial mess.
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And what this meant was that the club couldn't afford to pay Messi's fees, so they had to do the unthinkable, and had to let him go for free.
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778 games for the club, 672 goals, 303 assists, 6 Ballon d'Ors,
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10 La Ligas, and 4 Champions League wins.
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The list of his awards at the club that saved his life was incredible.
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Still, Messi is the ultimate pro, so he packed his bags, went to Paris, and the following year,
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he made history again, the 2022 World Cup, and Messi had publicly announced that this was going to be his last.
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Together, the team decided to rally around him, giving him one final push, and on a historic night in Los Angeles,
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after getting to a chaotic 3-3 final against France, Gonzalo Montiel made sure Messi would go down as the undisputed GOAT.
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It really was that grandma.
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Messi had done it.
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World champion at last.
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Unfortunately, Messi's time at PSG wasn't what he thought it'd be.
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Because even though he'd won the league and French Cup twice, they got knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 twice.
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And with that, Messi decided his European adventure was over, so he packed his bags again, and this time he was on a plane to Miami.
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Enter Miami, Messi's new home.
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With 726 goals and 346 assists in 894 matches, Messi's undoubtedly the best.
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And these days, he'd rather just chill with his kids, play with his new teammates at stateside, or, you know, drink and watch all the videos on GoalZone,
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The one he subscribed to!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Messi, Barcelona, goal, Ballon, kid. This video has 127 sentences and 1673 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:28. The speaker talks at a natural 160 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grandma noun | /ˈɡɹænmɑː/ | Grandmother. |
| rival noun | /ˈɹaɪvəl/ | A competitor (person, team, company, etc.) with the same goal as another, or striving to attain the same thing. Defeating a rival may be a primary or necessary… |
| quarterfinal noun | One of the four competitions in a knockout tournament whose winners go on to play in the two semifinals. | |
| treble noun | /ˈtɹɛbəl/ | The highest singing voice (especially as for a boy) or part in musical composition. |
| teammate noun | /ˈtiːmˌmeɪt/ | One who is on the same team. |
| injection noun | /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛk.ʃən/ | The act of injecting, or something that is injected. |
| iconic adjective | /aɪˈkɑnɪk/ | Relating to, or having the characteristics of, an icon. |
| brainer noun | /bɹeɪ.nə(ɹ)/ | someone with a certain type of brain |
| heartbreak noun | /ˈhɑɹt.bɹeɪk/ | Overwhelming mental anguish or grief, especially that caused by loss or disappointment. |
| procure verb | /pɹəˈkjʊɹ/ | To acquire or obtain. |
| scrawny adjective | /ˈskɹɔni/ | Thin, malnourished, and weak. |
| semifinal noun | A playoff in the round with only four players or teams left, the stage before the final. | |
| stagger verb | /ˈstæɡɚ/ | In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter. |
| stateside adjective | In the United States. | |
| undisputed adjective | Universally agreed upon; not disputed. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| take up verb | To pick up. |
| bail out on verb | To abandon (someone or something). |
| come along verb | To accompany. |
| come through verb | To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
| heat up verb | To heat, to cause to become hotter. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 17 contractions and reduced forms, such as he'd, couldn't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: unthinkable /ʌnˈθɪŋkəbəl/, undoubtedly /ʌnˈdaʊtɪdli/, disappointment /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like grandma, rival, quarterfinal.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.