Gary Lineker reveals why he defecated on the pitch in England clash with Ireland
Whenever England face Ireland in football, like they will in this weekend's Nations League match, Leicester City legend Gary Lineker is often reminded of a particularly mortifying incident from his playing days.
It invokes the time during the Italia '90 World Cup when the ace striker had an unfortunate experience on the pitchnow infamously known as the moment he soiled himself mid-game. Despite the incident occurring 34 years ago, Lineker now manages to see the humour in the situationalthough during the actual match against Ireland he was far from amused.
Afflicted with illness the evening before the game, the then-Spurs forward stayed silent about his stomach troubles, fueled by a strong desire to compete in the opening match of his second World Cup campaign.
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The match began positively, with Lineker propelling Bobby Robson's squad into the lead in the first half. However, things deteriorated significantly for his health and England's performance following the break.
Recounting the event for the Match of the Day top-10 podcast, Lineker said: "I'd not been very well the night before, but I didn't tell anyone because I wanted to play. 15 minutes in the second half I start cramping and I thin, 'oh christ I'm in a s*** load of pain here'.", reports the Mirror.
He detailed the moment further stating, "The ball goes out on their left-hand side and I kind of did a lunge at it. And as I did that I kind of relaxed. And it's just gone 'boof', and I've gone, 'Oh my God'. And I'm sat there on the ground and it's all there."
"You can see me look up and Gary Stevens comes over and I remember him going, 'Links, what's wrong'. And I went, 'I've s*** myself'. I felt like crying. Thank God we had the dark blue shorts on and not the white ones. It was horrible at the time but it's obviously funny now."
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In a previous account of the ill-fated incident, Lineker said: "You can see me rubbing myself on the ground like a dog trying to clean myself. It was the most horrible experience of my life."
Alluding to the funky odour which he then followed him around, Lineker quipped: "It was amazing how much space I found after that though, I was stinking! ".
To his relief, Lineker was replaced by Steve Bull not long after his mishap. However, things only got worse for England as Kevin Sheedy fired Ireland level as the match ended 1-1.
Thankfully, that was as bad as it got for Lineker's underwear and he continued to lead England's front-line in Italy. He scored in the iconic semi-final against West Germany in Turin, only for England to lose on penalties after misses from Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle.
England's players will be hoping to avoid any similar mishaps to Lineker's embarrassing tale when they face Ireland today (Saturday, 5pm) in the Nations League at The Aviva Stadium.