Featured Image Credit: The Rest Is Football
Topics: Gary Lineker, Arsenal, Martin Keown, Match Of The Day, Micah Richards
John McDougall
Topics: Gary Lineker, Arsenal, Martin Keown, Match Of The Day, Micah Richards
Gary Lineker has named a former Arsenal defender as the most annoying player he faced during his career.
Former England striker Lineker's professional career on the pitch spanned more than 15 years, coming through the youth team ranks at his beloved Leicester City.
From there, he had spells with Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham and ended his playing days in Japan with Nagoya Grampus Eight.
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Following the end of his playing career, Lineker has established himself as a successful broadcaster, most notably hosting the BBC's flagship football programme Match of the Day, as well as Champions League coverage more recently.
On the latest edition on The Rest Is Football podcast, the question cropped up of which player was the most annoying Lineker faced in his playing days.
Micah Richards chose Chelsea legend Didier Drogba as the player he found the most annoying to face, before Lineker answered the same question.
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And the former striker chose retired Arsenal defender Martin Keown as the one he did not relish facing, even going so far to admit that he used to get 'pinched' in games by his now Match of the Day colleague, as he recounted a funny story which Lee Dixon has about the ex-Gunners man.
Lineker said: "I'm going to throw one in here, I only played against him a few times towards the end of my career, but my f*****g god was he annoying, and now I work with him.
"A certain Martin Keown! I love Martin to bits now and he's a lovely guy, but my goodness me, playing against him, he pinched you!
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"He'd pinch you in your side and stuff like that and he'd be all over you and he was aggressive and he was slightly insecure and still is to a degree in a very nice way.
"He works hard at his job but Lee Dixon always tells the story about I think they were playing a game and they were about two or three down after 20 minutes. Dicko was playing right-back and Martin kept shouting 'Dicko' and in the end he said 'what?' and at 3-0 down he goes 'how am I doing?'"
Hopefully their next exchange on screen won't be too awkward after Lineker's admission.