Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are also useful when talking about other topics.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the word genius.

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English.

Rich: Remember you can find transcripts for all of our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website.

Jack: Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time.

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are often useful when talking about other topics.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is just a word and it’s: genius.

Jack: A genius is a person who has unusually high levels of intelligence, creativity or skill in a specific area.

Rich: Marie Curie and Albert Einstein are seen as geniuses in the field of physics.

Jack: William Shakespeare and Virginia Woolf are seen as geniuses in the field of literature.

Rich: And Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi were political geniuses in their fights for social justice.

Jack: The sporting world also has geniuses: Michael Jordan in basketball, Lewis Hamilton in F1, Tiger Woods in golf and Sachin Tendulkar in cricket.

Rich: A genius is very special and there are very few men and women that are classed as geniuses in their field.

Jack: The football world said goodbye to one of the true geniuses of the game when Diego Maradona died at his home in Argentina this week.

Rich: Diego Maradona was one of the best if not the best footballer to ever play the game. He was a true genius on the football field.

Jack: He was described as a child genius when he was spotted by talent scouts at eight years old. He made his professional debut at just 15 and made his international debut for Argentina when he was just 16.

Rich: At times he was described as a tormented genius, a tortured genius and a flawed genius but when he stepped on the pitch nobody could stop him.

Jack: Maradona captained Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986. The goals he scored in that World Cup took Argentina to the trophy.

Rich: The goals he scored in that tournament were the works of genius. The goal against England when he dribbled past most of the team and then the goals against Belgium - strokes of genius both of them.

Jack: Maradona was and is a hero to millions at home in Argentina and across the world. A true genius on the football pitch and probably the best player to have ever played the game.

Rich: There is the final whistle!

Jack: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football. 

Discuss

Was Diego Maradona the best player ever?

Did you ever see Diego Maradona play?

Write your answers in the comments section below.