Gary Lineker’s infamous penalty against Brazil in 1992 came back to bite him during the latest episode of the Rest Is Football.
Lineker’s fellow hosts, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer, couldn’t resist playfully teasing him during a listener’s question.
The inquiry was simple yet profound: if they could relive just 15 minutes of a game from their playing days, which moment would they choose?
Lineker reflected on two memorable matches: the 1990 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals in Naples, where England faced Cameroon, and the friendly against Brazil in 1992.
“The 15-minute section I think it’s about that between the two penalties that I took. I don’t know why I want to relive that again because it was fairly harrowing,” which triggered huge laughter from Shearer and Richards.
Lineker smiled: “I was going to say they both went in, which made it very, very special because we were losing two-nil with eight minutes to go.
“Then early on in extra time, we went ahead, so probably that moment.”
Lineker scored two penalty goals against Cameroon, progressing England into the World Cup semi-finals but also sparing them from one of the most humiliating defeats in their history.
Richards interjected: “Can I just ask, now you’ve mentioned it, we’ve talked about this Panenka you tried to do, and if you had scored, you would have been the highest-ever goal scorer for England… What was going through your delusional mind at the time?”
Had Lineker converted that particular penalty, he would have equalled Bobby Charlton’s record of 49 England goals.
“I was watching him in the stand,” Shearer said through laughter.
“I was thinking the same thing, Micah, what the flip are you playing at?”
“That’s the thing about a Panenka; if you don’t get it quite right, you look like a complete fool,” Lineker admitted.
“I understand you’re Gary Lineker, you’re the man of football, the great Gary Lineker, but if you could beat a record, surely you just stick it home? I understand if you’ve got two or three past the record number, but to try a Panenka to beat the record is just daft,” Micah said in astonishment.
“And it was at Wembley, and it was only against Brazil,” Shearer chimed in sarcastically.
“Okay, on a serious note now, I’ll tell you why,” Lineker explained.
“A couple of reasons, mainly because I thought it was a guarantee that I’d score doing that. I’d seen this goalkeeper dive out of the way all the time, and I thought to myself, if I just float it down the middle, I’m guaranteed to score. I’ve scored quite a few penalties like that.
“I thought that was the best chance of scoring; I just hit it a little bit flat, like your duffer chip if you’re playing golf. It went so slow that the keeper actually had time to almost dive and then come back and pick it up.”
Shearer said: “Before the game, in your head, are you thinking if I get a penalty today, I’m going to dink this? Or did you just make it up on the spot?”
“I knew before the game,” Lineker said.
“I practised for the previous two games, just on my own in a net for a while. There was a lot of grass at Wembley, so there’s my excuse.”
Richards admitted he had never seen the said penalty, to which Shearer responded with a laugh, “It’s so funny, Micah. I was thinking, what the f*** is he doing?”
Lineker hilariously replied: “Well, you’ll never know what it’s like to get that close to the record, Alan.”
The 64-year-old’s England career was marked by prolific goal-scoring and notable tournament performances.
| Player | Goals | Games |
| Harry Kane | 69 | 103 |
| Wayne Rooney | 53 | 120 |
| Sir Bobby Charlton | 49 | 106 |
| Gary Lineker | 48 | 80 |
| Jimmy Greaves | 44 | 57 |
| Michael Owen | 40 | 89 |
| Sir Tom Finney | 30 | 76 |
| Nat Lofthouse | 30 | 33 |
| Alan Shearer | 30 | 63 |
| Frank Lampard | 29 | 106 |
He made his debut in 1984, earning 80 caps and scoring 48 goals.
During the 1986 World Cup, Lineker captured the Golden Boot, scoring six goals—a record that remains unmatched by any other English player, with his hat-trick against Poland being a huge sign of things to come.
