Gary Lineker has explained why he didn't present Match of the Day on Saturday night, despite being back on BBC screens following the controversy that saw him temporarily step back from his role.
The 62-year-old returned to hosting duties on Saturday evening for Manchester City's FA Cup quarter-final clash against Championship side Burnley. It came after he was forced to step aside from his role on Match of the Day following his comments on the government's controversial new policy on asylum seekers.
The former Tottenham and England striker shared his opinion on the matter on Twitter. An impartiality row followed the BBC's decision as several high-profile names defended Lineker, including regular MOTD pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer.
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Despite this, the issue between the two parties was resolved earlier this week and Lineker was back on BBC screens. He presented City's 6-0 thrashing of Vincent Kompany's side but was absent from the show covering Premier League highlights later in the night.
Lineker took to social media to address the confusion, writing: "For those who missed it and are asking, I presented @BBCMOTD’s live FA Cup game earlier this evening. MOTD tonight was always going to be presented by the brilliant mark Chapman. It will have good replays so you can see what happened and understand penalty calls."
He admitted he was 'glad to be back' on the BBC in the build-up to City's victory, while Shearer apologised for there being no show last weekend.
"It’s good [to be here]," Shearer told BBC. "I just wanted to clear up and wanted to say how upset we were about all the audiences that missed out last weekend.
"It was a really difficult situation for everyone concerned and through no fault of their own, some really great people in TV and in radio were put in an impossible situation, that wasn’t fair.
"It’s good to get back to some sort of normality and be talking about football again."
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