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It was just a few days ago that you could see for yourself how well, how professionally he acts - without the ball on your foot.
On Wednesday night, Gary Lineker was sitting in a television studio.
The news of the death of Diego Armando Maradona, the Argentine football legend, had also reached him, the former English star striker.
When asked about Maradona, Lineker began to speak highly of him.
He told us what a brilliant football player Maradona was and said, full of admiration, how he handled the ball.
Around 7.7 million followers on Twitter
Lineker said, for example, how he once observed Maradona when the latter, not moving much, shot the ball up 13 times in a row and got it back on his foot.
Anyone else, Lineker said, would do it three or four times.
As resolute as the former striker was once on the pitch, he is eloquent today.
You like to listen to him, you like to read what he has to say.
Lineker hosts two of the most popular sports shows on British television and has 7.7 million followers on Twitter.
Recently he has even been discussed as the new head of the English Football Association.
But the ex-national player and TV presenter has absolutely no interest in that.
Lineker said he was “not a good organizer”.
And he could hardly imagine that “an old white man like me” would have a chance at the job.
The former striker turns 60 this Monday.
Gary Lineker played for Tottenham Hotspur from 1989 to 1992.
In 105 games he scored 67 goals
Source: pa / empics / John Stillwell
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His hair has long been gray, but the twice divorced Lineker, who has four sons from his first marriage, looks significantly younger.
"I'm still in good shape," he recently told the Guardian newspaper.
“70 is the number I'm worried about.
I would like to work ten more years in my job and have a good time. "
Lineker, who hunted goals as a professional for Leicester City, Everton FC, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur, is omnipresent for English football fans.
He moderates the program “Match Of The Day”, the English equivalent of “Sportschau”, on the BBC broadcaster, and regularly presents the Champions League on the pay-TV channel BT Sport.
Not a single yellow card in his career
He also posts on Twitter several times a day - sometimes ten to 20 times during a thrilling soccer game.
Most recently about the video evidence that changed the sport, but not for the better.
His fans appreciate the clear words - Lineker criticizes footballers, coaches, officials and rules objectively but bluntly.
He remains fair as a player.
It's hard to believe: in the 16 years of his playing career, he hasn't received a single yellow or red card.
In 1990 he received the Fifa Fair Play Award.
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Lineker's followers also love his humor.
"Now we know why Messi wanted to leave," he tweeted when his ex-club Barça recently presented new jerseys in pink that took getting used to.
When the Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic became infected with the coronavirus, Lineker quipped: "My thoughts are with the virus at this difficult time."
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The 80-time national player often changes his famous sentence about German football.
When Germany failed in the Nations League in 2018, he joked with self-irony: “Whoever said that football is a game in which 22 players kick the ball for 90 minutes and in the end the Germans always win, has no idea and should get down. "
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Lineker does not hold back with political views either.
He spoke out clearly against Brexit, at least until the end of 2019. "After the last parliamentary election, I stopped," he emphasized in the "Times" interview.
“I said at the time: Now everyone knows my point of view and I don't want to talk about it anymore.” Apparently, some Brexit supporters still resent him.
He even said he was attacked on the street because of it.
World Cup semi-finals 1990: Gary Lineker (r.) Jubilantly turns after his penalty against Germany.
Because the teammates Pearce and Waddle missed, England was eliminated
Source: pa / press photo Ru / Herbert Rudel
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Lineker also campaigns against racism and campaigns for the support of refugees.
“It's not political for me.
It's humanitarian, ”he says.
He is not afraid to offend or polarize.
On the contrary.
"I'm enjoying it," he told the Telegraph.
"They call me a leftist, a socialist celebrity, but I'm actually pretty much in the middle."
With a view to the Corona crisis, Lineker made players, clubs and associations responsible - not a political consideration for him.
"It's not a question of Tory, Liberals, Labor, Brexit or where to stay," he clarified.
"It's all about minimizing the number of deaths." Shortly afterwards, he was spotted in a supermarket without a mask.
Lineker apologized ashamed on Twitter - with a gag.
The fact that he forgot the mask was due to "my old age".