Gary Lineker is one of the most famous strikers in the history of English football. He was remembered by millions not only as a star football player, but also as a bright personality on the football field and beyond. But first of all, he is known as the real and true legend of the English club Leicester. The history of his performances for the "fox", as well as for other clubs, will be described in this article. Gary Lineker is one of the players whose biography every fan of this sport should know.
Performances for the native club
Gary Lineker was born in 1960 in the English Leicester, respectively, he was a fan of the local team from an early age, and his appearance in the academy of the club of the same name was only a matter of time. The fact is that at that time this club was far from the most progressive and prosperous - it was more than modest, so any young football talent was accepted with great pleasure. The joy of “Leicester” knew no bounds when it turned out that Lineker was very gifted and was an extremely promising central striker.
In 1978, a professional contract was signed with him, but immediately the young player could not join the composition - he lacked experience. Therefore, in his first season, he spent only seven matches, scoring one goal. But these performances, together with a demonstration of abilities in training, convinced the head coach, and the next year Gary Lineker began to appear on the field much more often: he recorded 20 matches in his asset, in which he scored three goals. Thanks to the efforts of the young Lineker and other football players, the club managed to enter the first division. But at a prestigious level, Leicester could not resist and flew out a year later, during which Lineker appeared on the field only ten times. But since 1981, he finally won a permanent place at the base and over the next four years played 179 matches, scoring 96 goals. At the same time, two seasons were held in the second division, and two more in the first, where the team made it largely thanks to Gary's scorer qualities.
Going to Everton
But the time has come for a change. Many believed that Gary Lineker is a football player who will spend his whole life in Leicester, but he decided to go on a promotion to achieve something more, and not just fight for survival. Therefore, in 1985, the 25-year-old striker moved to Everton, which at that time was a fairly strong club in England. With the arrival of Lineker, he became even stronger, since Gary in the first season “pinned” only 30 goals in the League, becoming the top scorer and putting the team in second place (“Everton” lost only two points to “Liverpool” in the race for the championship title ) In total, Gary played 52 matches this season, in which he scored 38 goals. Naturally, this attracted the attention of the largest clubs in Europe, and Gary Lineker, whose photographs were already on all covers of sports publications not only in England but also in the world, climbed the highest step of his career.
Exit to the highest level
After spending only a year with Everton, the striker received an offer from one of the largest clubs in Europe - the Spanish Barcelona. Everton received an impressive compensation for the player for that time - an amount equivalent to the current three and a half million euros. It was the third most expensive transfer of that summer (only Ian Rush cost more than Lineker, for whom Juventus gave five million euros, as well as Roberto Donadoni, who moved to Milan for eight million euros). In “Barcelona” Gary immediately entrenched in the base and began to score a decent number of goals, albeit not as amazing as in England. For three seasons in Spain, he played 137 matches, in which he became the author of 52 goals.
Return to England
Although Gary Lineker showed impressive results in Barcelona, ​​he really missed his native England, so in 1989, at the age of 29, the young athlete returned to the islands. Manchester United tried to buy it, but Lineker chose Tottenham Hotspur, for which he successfully played for another three seasons. During them, he played 138 matches and scored 80 goals, showing that in England his performance is still higher than in Spain. By the time the contract expired, Gary Lineker, whose biography as a football player was also nearing completion, decided to challenge himself in the end. He moved to the Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eyt.
Retirement in Japan
Lineker spent another two years at the Japanese club, playing in 24 matches and scoring eight goals. In 1994, there were still rumors that Gary could return to England to play a season or two for any of the English clubs (mostly Middlesbrough and Southampton were supposed). But the young man denied all these rumors, saying that he was completing a football career.
Team appearances
Separately, it is worth talking about how Gary Lineker played for England. The striker held his first match back in 1984, it was a friendly game against the Scottish national team. His first major tournament was the 1986 World Cup , where Gary was the main striker. He scored a hat-trick against Poland at the group stage, then scored two goals for Paraguayans in the 1/8 finals. Once he hit the gates of the Argentines in the fourth quarter finals, but this was not enough, and the England team dropped out of the tournament.
The next major tournament - the 1988 European Championships - turned out to be completely disastrous for the British: they lost all three matches of the group stage, and Lineker could not score a single goal. At the 1990 World Cup , the British managed to get into the semifinals - Lineker first scored a goal in the group stage against the national team of Ireland, and then a dry series of three matches followed, which Gary interrupted in the fourth quarter, scoring two goals and leading his team to the semifinals, where his only goal again did not help the team go further - the Germans were stronger.
Moreover, the British could not even win the bronze, losing the match for the third place to the Italians. The 1992 European Championship was the last major tournament for Lineker: there, again, he could not score a single goal. But this is not surprising against the background of the team’s nightmarish performance: in three matches the English managed to score only one goal (Lineker became the assistant to this goal). It was this match, in which the opponents of the British were the Swedes, was the last in the career of Lineker. After the 1992 European Championship, he announced that he was leaving the national team. In total, Gary spent 80 matches for the national team, scoring 48 goals.
Achievements
With Leicester, Lineker won the second division of England in 1980, with Everton in 1985 he won the FA Cup. Even with Barcelona he could only win the Spanish Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1988 and 1989, respectively. Going to Tottenham Hotspur, Lineker again won the FA Cup in 1991. As a result, one of the best strikers in the history of English football did not win a single championship in his career. But at the same time he has a huge number of personal awards that he deserved for the whole time that he spent as a football player at the club and international levels.
Lineker Quotes
Separately, it is worth focusing on the statements that Gary Lineker periodically issues. The quotes of this former footballer are very popular, and often they go straight to the bull's eye. His most popular statement is the one in which he spoke about the dominance of the Germans in world football. “Football is a simple game,” Lineker said, “22 people run after the ball for 90 minutes, and in the end the Germans win.” Gary Linecker's words about coaching are also popular. He was repeatedly asked why he did not become a coach after the player’s career ended, to which he replied that the coach should live and breathe only football. He admitted that he loves this sport very much, but there are other things in his life. Not only a great football player Gary Lineker. Phrase by phrase, his statements circulate around the Internet, prove that he is also a great leader, and also a very smart person.