Gary Lineker: "Just because Messi doesn't speak brilliantly doesn't mean he isn't smart"

Gary Lineker (United Kingdom, 61 years old) was always clear about what he wanted to become.

"I knew it since he was 11 years old and would go to see Leicester games."

And he doesn't talk about football, a profession he practiced very well after playing for Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, ​​Tottenham and Nagoya (Japan);

He was also a semifinalist in the 1990 World Cup. “I wanted to be a journalist.

In Mexico 86 and Italy 90, I sat with them while they wrote their chronicles”, recalls the Englishman, at the Soho House in Barcelona, ​​hours after receiving the Manuel Vázquez Montalbán Award.

Star journalist for the BBC, Golden Boot in Mexico and Silver Ball in 1986, there is a phrase that reminds Lineker more than his 281 goals in 567 games: "Football is a simple game: 22 players chase a ball for 90 minutes and, in the end, the Germans always win.

Ask.

Is it a

phrase ?

Response.

The Shakespeare of football.

I like a lot.

There he has his headline [laughs].

Obviously, when I said it, I never imagined that it would become such a famous phrase.

Do you know the context?

It was just before the '94 World Cup. A guy was writing a book trying to explain soccer to Americans.

He didn't strike me as particularly smart at the time.

But the same thing happens to me with the tweets I write.

I'm just trying to put a different angle on things.

Thats the reality.

There are other great phrases too.

More information

Qatar 2022: the most expensive image campaign in history

Q.

The hand of God?

R.

It is that that was really very intelligent.

It's just the whole phrase: "It was the hand of God."

Sort of like the hand was part of his head... Very smart.

I think it's important to say, I know she had her problems, but you can't play football like that and not be smart.

And the same goes for Messi.

They are the ones that have caught my attention the most, it seems as if they are looking at everything from above, like they can see the entire field and know exactly what is happening at all times.

I was in a game in Rio and Messi saw a pass that we, from the broadcast booths, couldn't see.

And I thought: What kind of brain does this guy have?

That, mere mortals, we can not do.

Just because Leo doesn't describe things brilliantly in interviews doesn't mean he's not smart.

He was the same with

[Paul Gascoigne].

He was a bit of a clown, but he was no fool.

On the contrary.

Q.

Did you forgive Maradona's goal with his hand?

R.

I never blamed him.

I blamed the ref for not seeing it.

But, when you go to Argentina, you realize that they like that goal almost as much as the other one.

For them, picaresque, witchcraft, cunning and even trickery are part of football.

It wouldn't occur to me to do that because we don't think like that.

We'll bend the rules and try to get our way, but it would never have crossed my mind to do that.

Q.

Did you talk to Diego afterwards?

R.

Yes, I made two documentaries with him.

Well, a documentary proper and in the other he never appeared [laughs].

I ended up chasing him through Argentina.

One of those days he was playing golf with Carlos Menem, who was president of Argentina at the time.

"Did you talk to Diego?" He asked me.

And when I told him I hadn't been able to get in touch with him yet, he called him, “Diego, Gary's here,” he said.

I got on the phone and spoke to Diego.

He told me that we were going to do it.

That night, at three in the morning, I was sleeping in the hotel room and the phone rings.

It was Menem.

"Diego is in such a disco and he tells you to go because he wants to see you."

I kept sleeping.

I wasn't going to chase him into a nightclub.

Can you imagine?

Q.

How do you remember the second goal?

R.

It was the only time in my entire career that I thought I had to applaud.

As simple as that.

Obviously I didn't.

They would have killed me at home.

The field was horrible, you know how when they destroy the garden of your house and you put the grass back?

So.

And Diego, in those conditions, was limited to making pum, pum, pum, pum and goal.

He dropped my jaw to the ground.

A couple of weeks ago I was arguing with my classmates.

Is it the most famous match of all time?

Q.

Is it?

A.

I think so.

I don't know which one can be better.

Q.

The

?

R.

But it has to be a game that is remembered throughout the world.

In England they can talk about 66 and in Italy about Zidane's header.

And the game?

People only remember the header.

In Mexico you have the hand of God and the best goal ever scored.

All this in an England-Argentina, in a World Cup and after the Falklands War.

The only problem with that game is that nobody remembers who scored the goal for England [he laughs, referring to his goal, the 1-2].

Q.

You, who was a goalscorer, what do you think of the idea of ​​the false nine?

Is it an excuse when you don't have a 9?

A.

Absolutely, that's it.

If you have a 9, you want it.

And, when you don't have a first-class one, you have to make do.

It may be that this is what Germany has to do with Havertz in Qatar.

I don't really know what their best position is, it's certainly not a 9. But France have shown that you can win a World Cup without a 9.

Q.

How do you analyze England?

A.

If you know how you want to play, you have half your problems solved.

And, at the moment, I don't see that England is clear about it and it worries me.

Q.

Don't like teams that are constantly changing?

R.

I think the best coaches have a way of playing and almost always use the same system.

The ones who change the system every ten minutes or once every three games are the ones who are constantly looking for a way to play and thus it is difficult for them to succeed.

For example, Klopp.

He has a way of playing and he does only little tweaks.

It is a 4-3-3, dynamic, with a lot of pressure, in which the full-backs push up and with coverage work in the midfield.

The same goes for Pep, but with a different style.

But Southgate plays one game with five defenders, in another with four.

When a team knows what it plays for the footballers it is much easier.

Players are helped when everyone has a job and knows it and is consistent.

It's easier for Pep and Klopp because they have the best in each position,

can be.

But England has them too.

Q.

But does Germany win the World Cup?

R.

They don't win all the World Cups either [laughs].

But it is a possibility.

I don't see a clear favourite.

France win or implode.

Spain has done a job that has progressed a lot.

It is a young team, but they did very well in the Eurocup.

The two South Americans are probably the ones that arrive the best.

But they haven't won a World Cup for more than 20 years.

It's all very open.

Q.

Does this World Cup generate any conflict for you?

R.

It generates conflict for me, yes.

But not because of what I do personally.

I will inform, not support.

They asked me to do the draw for FIFA and I refused.

Of course, it would be supporting the World Cup.

They understood perfectly.

Q.

What argument did you give?

R.

That I would feel like a hypocrite because I was against this World Cup being held in Qatar.

We have had Zoom meetings with Amnesty on how to deal with facelift in sports.

And this facelift only works when you stop talking about the issues.

We will talk about human rights and issues in the stadiums.

And surely we will do it in the opening program.

It was clearly a corrupt decision, we all know that.

Half of them are now in jail or disabled.

Q.

Do you think that things have changed since Infantino was here?

A.

I think they make mistakes, but I don't think the current FIFA regime, with people like Arsène Wenger in positions of power, is corrupt.

I think the old days of Blatter, when dubious things were done, are a thing of the past.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't think Infantino is like the ones that were before.

In any case, I don't think he should play there.

That's wrong.

However, when football starts, it will consume everything.

Q.

So, is that the conflict?

That football ignores everything else?

A.

Sometimes we also forget that we are not exactly perfect close to our homes.

We sell weapons to that part of the world and now we expect the footballers to do something about it.

Q.

Is it unfair to demand that from the players?

A.

Of course.

Politicians will use football however they want.

It is powerful and has impact.

They'll gladly tell you to stick with soccer when it doesn't suit them.

But then, when it suits them, they will ask you: "Why don't you position yourself?"

And I think that's what is likely to happen in many countries.

Subscribe here

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber