Gary Lineker details Match of the Day unfortunate first after 'emotional' BBC farewell

Gary Lineker has mentioned a rather unforeseen turn of events on his final Match of the Day appearance, facing an unprecedented hiccup in his last show for the BBC.

The ex- forward was set to leave the highlights programme next year, however, a controversy on social media expedited his exit by a year.

During Sunday's broadcast, the 64-year-old fought back tears and later discussed his concluding Match of the Day presentation – a role he's held since 1999 – revealing that he misplaced his script just when he needed it the most.

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"I was a bit emotional last night, but I'm fine, I'm good and thank you both for your very kind words," shared on his podcast The Rest is Football with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, who were analysts on his finale.

"I must say when they played the montage, obviously I knew something was coming but I didn't know what it was at all and I was struggling to keep myself, especially when I saw my boys.

"Thankfully that wasn't the last clip because I had gone at that point and I needed time to get myself together and try to get through the end of the show. ".

"It’s strange, isn’t it? I’ve been at the helm for around 25, 26 years always closing with the Premier League table and my final remarks, which I managed again last night.

"However, for the first ever time due to the circumstances, I completely lost our ‘copy’, essentially the written script I read from alongside the tables.

"That is written by the subs, it needs to be accurate obviously for all the things, you can't make any mistakes and for the first time in 26 years I couldn't find it. And it wasn't there, so I just busk.

"There were a couple of tears, I was fighting it back a bit with my closing lines, but yeah, and big thank you actually to Richard Hughes, he is the (Match of the Day) editor."

"Rich is brilliant, he's the best in the business and getting that montage together was a brilliant thing."

His exit from the came on the back of a controversy involving a social media post about Zionism, displaying an image of a rat, which has historical connotations of antisemitism.

Subsequent to the fiasco, Lineker tendered a wholehearted apology regarding the tweet, around the same time as it was announced that his tenure as the face of the BBC would be cut short.

While originally planning to remain with the BBC for live broadcasts of the FA Cup and 2026 World Cup, Lineker ultimately decided that departing sooner was "best for all concerned".