Alan Shearer jokingly accused his colleague Gary Lineker of “bullying” after the BBC presenter made a quip about his baldness.
Lineker is presenting the public-owned broadcaster’s coverage of the Qatar World Cup. While his work has often taken a serious tone, touching on the controversies surrounding the host nation, Lineker has also retained his trademark light touch.
He was in the studio for Argentina’s last-16 tie against Australia on Saturday night. The focus for the match was upon Lionel Messi, who was playing in his 1000th game, but the BBC also did a segment on Australia midfielder Aaron Mooy.
The Socceroos player is a familiar face from his time playing in the Premier League with Huddersfield and Brighton. And Lineker believes the Celtic man bears a striking resemblance to Shearer.
“One of Australia’s standouts has been Aaron Mooy – you’re doing a piece on him as he’s your twin brother,” Lineker joked.
“That’s bullying Gary!” Shearer replied. “He’s the heartbeat of that team, he’s been their best player, played every minute of their three games, had more touches, more passes, more tackles, won possession more than anyone else in his team and he’s brave in terms of possession.
“He’s not afraid to get on the ball, and most things go through him when they’re attacking and defending. He’s gonna have to put in some performance if they’re going to get a result.”
In the event, Mooy could not stop Messi from getting on the score sheet in the first half. Although Australia did a very good job at stopping Argentina from playing, Messi managed to make his mark on the game.
The Paris Saint-Germain star worked a brilliant move before curling into the bottom corner with his left foot to net his the 789th goal of his career in his 1000th game. Argentina went in at the break 1-0 ahead – and Rio Ferdinand believes they have enough to go all the way and win the competition.
“I think with Messi they have to be in the conversation,” he said. “He’s that big of a talent, you could put any game plan in front of this guy and he’ll find a way of unpicking it because of his sheer ability and his nouse around the football pitch. He’s done it time after time after time.”
