Gary Winston Lineker OBE was one of English football's top strikers in the 1980s and early 1990s. A unique blend of skill, intelligence and charm, he was venomous up front, an extreme professional, who rarely lost his temper. During his 14 year long professional career, Lineker was never cautioned, let alone sent off - very few footballers have achieved this feat. He achieved stardom with Everton F.C., after initially playing for Leicester City F.C. He then had spells with F.C. Barcelona and other big clubs before returning to Tottenham Hotspur. After this, he played two years in Japan for Nagoya Grampus Eight before a foot injury finished his career and he returned to England, to become a TV pundit and presenter for the BBC. Through all these years, he was England's man up front, saving them more than once during the big matches. He has captained them for a few years too. An example of his value: when England was trailing 1-2 to Cameroon in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Lineker produced two penalties by his dazzling runs, and scored from both, securing England's 3-2 victory. In the next match, he equalised for England with an extremely cold-blooded strike, when they were trailing 1-0 to West Germany in the semi-final. In the 1986 World Cup, England had a lousy 1 point from the first two matches against Portugal and Morocco. Lineker's hat-trick saw England win 3-0 against Poland, and on England went into the quarter-finals, where they beat Paraguay 3-0 as well, before crashing out to Argentina, thanks to one of the greatest goals of all-time scored by Diego Maradona. Guess who scored England's only goal of the match... Show less «