Gary Lineker and his BBC colleagues let own plenty of tension as they celebrated England's equaliser against Switzerland at Euro 2024 on Saturday evening.
Breel Embolo had given the Swiss a 75th-minute lead when he was able to slide the ball in at the far post and it again looked like England were going to be made to pay for another lacklustre performance.
But five minutes and one triple substitution later, England were level, when Bukayo Saka cut in from the right and curled the ball home from the edge of the box.
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Wild celebrations ensued at the Dusseldorf Arena and beyond as Saka’s goal would then see England force extra time before they were able to triumph in a penalty shootout and book a semi-final against the Netherlands.
Following the win, a relieved BBC panel of presenter Gary Lineker and pundits Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards showed footage of how beer-soaked fans back in Wembley and Manchester reacted, plus Prince Williams’ passionate fist-pumping in the Dusseldorf posh seats, before showing how the goal went down in the BBC studio in Berlin.
As you’d expect, the quartet of ex-Three Lions stars all rose to their feet with variations of the aforementioned fist-pumping, before the sound was quickly cut off.
BBC shows celebrations around England for Saka's goal against Switzerland. It leads into the Gary Lineker, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Micah Richards. Lineker admits he threw out an "F' bomb. pic.twitter.com/LzG6Hn2umHJuly 6, 2024
“This is our embarrassing moment,” began Lineker as the footage rolled, before Richards noticed that the sound had been muted.
“Where’s the sound?” he asked.
“I think I dropped the f-bomb,” admitted Lineker.
The outburst of joy from the panel comes after controversy earlier in the tournament when Lineker was among a host of BBC pundits who were accused of being over-negative in their analysis of England’s performance.
But Richards countered this following the win over the Swiss, insisting they want to see England and Southgate succeed in Germany.
“We are fans as well, we have emotions, we want England to do well,” said the former Manchester City man. “We don’t want to talk negatively about them; we want to talk positively about them. How they played today was brilliant - still room for improvement, but on the front foot. Everyone feels together.”
England now take on the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday for a place in the Euro 2024 final against either Spain or France.
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