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Privacy NoticeGary Lineker has confessed that watching two of England’s penalty takers during the Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland nearly brought him to tears. The match saw England triumph after a nail-biting penalty shootout, with Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, and Trent Alexander-Arnold all scoring from the spot, leading to a 5-3 win. It was Saka and Alexander-Arnold’s penalties that touched Lineker deeply. Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, he said: “I was so pleased. I did actually, watching it, get a little bit emotional.” His co-host Micah Richards chimed in with: “You was tearing up a little.” Lineker then drew parallels between Saka’s moment and the experience of his former teammate Stuart Pearce. He reminisced: “Yeah, I’m a softy – I never used to be, I was really cold as a player.”
Gary Lineker revealed that he became “emotional” when watching England’s performance in the Euros quarter final
(Image: (Image: YouTube/The Rest Is Football))
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He went on to describe how Pearce’s journey resonated with him: “It reminded me so much of the Stuart Pearce moment. Stuart Pearce missed in 1990 when I played. He’s such a diamond of a bloke and a wonderful footballer. And then we played against Spain, penalty shootout in Euro 1996 and he stepped forward again.” The memory of Pearce’s redemption clearly still affects Lineker, who recalled being in the crowd: “I was in the crowd and I was thinking ‘please, please score, don’t miss’. And everybody in the crowd was the same. There was a silence that was palpable. And when he knocked that in – I cried on that occasion, I was sitting in the crowd, crying tears of joy.” “I don’t actually cry when I’m sad, I cry when I’m happy. And it reminded me of that. He [Saka] took the penalty that basically lost us the Euros. To come back from that, a young lad.” “Having scored also an absolutely brilliant goal to drag us level almost immediately after the substitutions, what a goal by the way. And then the penalty goes right. He’s amazing.”
It was Saka and Alexander-Arnold’s penalties that touched Lineker deeply
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“And the other time that I actually welled up a little bit was with Trent, because I feel for Trent in this tournament,” Lineker continued. “I think he was a bit hung out to dry a little bit because he’s been suddenly put into that central midfield position. But he was put in when the team was a bit disjointed. It wasn’t cohesive, they were all over the place, and everyone’s blaming Trent.” “And then he [Gareth Southgate] takes him off, and I just thought ‘that’s not fair’. And then I was so pleased for him that A, he came on, and then to score the winning penalty. He’s such an unbelievably brilliant footballer.” Despite the lingering doubts about Gareth Southgate’s strategic choices, his squad is now preparing for their third semi-final in the last four major tournaments. Yet, facing the Netherlands on Wednesday will undoubtedly be a more formidable challenge than any of the five teams they’ve encountered in Germany thus far.Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnGary Lineker
