One of the best players in the world. Some might even call him the GOAT. Lionel Messi.

You might know his name or his face, but there’s a secret to his success you might not know about. Come along with me, this is KN Explains: Lionel Messi.

A soccer pitch like this will be familiar to Messi. Why? Well, it’s a place where he probably played with his friends and learned the game. But how did he go from a pitch like this, to holding the World Cup? Let me tell you some quick facts…

Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1987. The superstar we see today had humble beginnings. As a youngster, he was smaller than most kids his age.Turns out he had a hormone growth deficiency, which meant he couldn’t grow at the same pace as other kids. His parents paid for medical treatment for a while, but couldn’t afford to continue. When he was 13, FC Barcelona offered him a spot in their youth academy … … and then offered to pay the medical bills. Messi started off as a midfielder, but then moved to striker when coaches noticed his skills. He played 17 seasons with Barcelona, then Paris Saint-Germain, and now he’s with Miami. Oh yeah, and he also led Argentina to win the 2022 World Cup.No biggie!

OK, but what about the secret to his success? Here’s what you’ve been waiting for. What makes Messi so unique? Follow me.Ta-da! I’m on a sidewalk.  What? You don’t get it? Stick with me. It’s called a sidewalk for a reason. Because you walk on it and Messi is a huge walker. You wouldn’t usually think that walking gets you anywhere fast, but for Messi, less is more. According to multiple media news reports on the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he walked more than almost every other player in that competition’s opening rounds, and he won the World Cup with Argentina.

Actually, earlier in his career, his walking drew him criticism. Media outlets thought he was tired or not engaged in the game. And then there was a big game in 2017 called El Clasico. Messi covered 8 kilometres in that game and he walked for 83% of that. But, check it out, he scored this goal:

Leo Messi steps up … it’s in the net!

And got this assist in the three nothing victory.

And that’s when people started to notice that his walking was part of his secret to success.

So, how does Messi turn walking into such an effective weapon? How does it help him score goals and make legendary plays? One reason is because it helps him to save energy, allowing for bursts of speed at the perfect moment. And walking allows Messi to carefully choose his position, and strike like a predator when the moment is right. He uses walking to his advantage, gaining valuable space by walking more than his competition. Check out this goal for into Miami. It’s a good example of Messi walking to success.

And Messi… Messi!

You can see he sort of stands around, but his head is always moving, scanning. He moves into valuable space where he can then score an amazing goal. Messi may have been gatekeeping his secret walking success, but others have talked about it, like his former coach Pep Guardiola, who said this…

His head is always like this. He’s always moving. He’s not running, but he’s always watching what happens. After 5-10 minutes, he has the map … in his eyes and his brain. To know exactly what is the space and what is the panorama.

And there you have it. A Lionel Messi approved secret to success, walking. I guess the next time I’m late for class, I’ll try walking and not running. I mean, if it’s effective for Messi, it should be effective for me. For CBC Kids News, for the first time, I’m Raef Sabra.
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• The GOAT (noun): abbreviation for ‘Greatest of All Time’.
• To come along with someone (phrasal verb): to go somewhere with someone.
• Familiar (adjective): easy to recognise because you’ve seen, heard, etc. something before.
• To have humble beginnings (idiom): to start in a simple way, without money or privilege.
• A youngster (noun): a young person, usually an older child.
• To turn out (phrasal verb): to be discovered or known finally and surprisingly.
• A hormone (noun): a chemical in the body that affects growth, development, etc.
• A deficiency (noun): the state of not having enough of something that is needed.
• Pace (noun): the speed at which something happens.
• Treatment (noun): the use of medicine, exercise, etc. to cure a person of an illness or injury.
• A spot (noun): a place or position in a group (especially in sports).
• A youth academy (noun): the part of a sports club that trains young players.
• A bill (noun): a list of expenses or costs that need to be paid.
• To notice something (noun): to see or become aware of something.
• To lead someone/ something (verb): to control a group of people or a situation.
• No biggie (idiom): used to say something is not a serious problem or anything unusual.
• Unique (adjective): being the only one existing of its type, or very special in some way.
• Ta-da (exclamation): used when something happens in an impressive or surprising way.
• A sidewalk (noun, US): a path with a hard surface next to a road (a pavement, UK).
• To stick with someone/ something (phrasal verb): to continue doing something, not change.
• Huge (adjective): extremely large in size or amount.
• Less is more (idiom): a small amount is often more effective than a large amount.
• According to (preposition): as said by a person or group.
• Media (noun): the internet, newspapers, TV, etc. considered as a group.
• A round (noun): a part of a competition.
• Actually (noun): in fact, or really.
• To draw (someone) criticism (phrase): to receive criticism or disapproval.
• Engaged (adjective): involved in something.
• El Clásico (noun): any of the football matches played between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
• Check it out (idiom): used to direct someone’s attention to something important or special.
• To step up (phrasal verb): to walk forward and be the person to do something.
• An assist (noun): in sports, an occasion when a player helps another player to score a goal.
• A victory (noun): winning a match or competition.
• Effective (adjective): successful or achieving the results you want.
• A weapon (noun): something that can be used against someone to be successful.
• Legendary (adjective): very famous and spoken about by many people.
• A burst (noun): a sudden increase in something, especially for a short time.
• To strike (verb): to attack or hit something with power.
• A predator (noun): an animal that hunts and kills other animals for food.
• To gain something (verb): to get something that is useful or gives you an advantage.
• Valuable (adjective): very helpful or useful.
• To scan (verb): to look at something carefully.
• To gatekeep (verb): to try to control who gets power, opportunities, etc.
• Former (adjective): from a past time.
• A panorama (noun): a view of a wide area.
• There you have it (idiom): used to say that something has just been shown in a clear way.
• To approve something (verb): to accept, allow, or officially agree to something.

In this text, there are various examples of defining and non-defining relative clauses.

Defining relative clauses give us essential information about who or what we’re talking about (‘defining’ the meaning).

Non-defining relative clauses give us additional information which isn’t essential to understand who or what we’re talking about. Importantly, there is a comma (,) or hyphen (-) at the beginning and end of a non-defining relative clause, separating the extra information.

We usually use a relative pronoun or adverb to start a defining relative clause: who, which, that, when, where or whose. All of these pronouns can be used with non-defining relative clauses, except ‘that’. That is not used in non-defining relative clauses:

‘Emma is the friend who/that I see the most.’   ‘My friend Emma, that who lives near me, I see the most.’

Who/ that: we can use who or that to talk about people. That is more common and a bit more informal:

‘She’s the person who/ that I met at the party.’ – defining relative clause.

‘That girl, who I met at the party, is in my class.’ – non-defining relative clause.                                

Which/ that: we use which or that to talk about things. That is more common and a bit more informal:

‘Those are the things which/ that really annoy me!’ – defining relative clause.

‘Those things, which he often does, really annoy me!’ – non-defining relative clause.

When can be used to refer to a time:

‘Christmas is when I see my family.’ – defining relative clause.

‘Christmas, when I see my family, is a great time of year.’ – non-defining relative clause.

Where refers to a place or certain situation/ context:

‘Can you see the place where we started?’ – defining relative clause.

‘Can you see the place we started, where we had a coffee, over there?’ – non-defining relative clause.

Whose is used to talk about the person that something belongs to:

‘She’s the teacher whose lessons I loved!’ – defining relative clause. 

‘She’s the teacher, whose lessons I loved, I saw last weekend.’ – non-defining relative clause.

*Sometimes we can leave out the pronoun (who, which/ that, etc.) if it is followed by a subject (I, we, you, etc). We can’t usually miss out the pronoun if is followed by a verb:

‘The footballer [who/ that] I like the best is Messi.’   ‘Messi is the football played for Barcelona.’ (who/ that is needed here before the verb ‘played’)

Examples in the text:

• … it’s a place where he probably played with his friends and learned the game: defining relative clause using ‘where’ to give more information about a place.
• The superstar [who/ that] we see today had humble beginnings: in this defining relative clause, the relative pronoun who/ that is left out here because it is followed by the subject pronoun ‘we’.
• Turns out he had a hormone growth deficiency, which meant he couldn’t grow at the same pace as other kids: non-defining relative clause using ‘which’ (after a comma) to give extra information about the medical condition which Messi had.
• He moves into valuable space where he can then score an amazing goal: defining relative clause using ‘where’ to give more information about a place or situation/ context.
• … like his former coach Pep Guardiola, who said this…: non-defining relative clause using ‘who’ (after a comma) to give extra information about a person.

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/relative-clauses

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CBC-Kids-News-Lionel-Messi-the-hidden-secret-to-his-success.pdf

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CBC-Kids-News-Lionel-Messi-the-hidden-secret-to-his-success.docx