Gary Lineker believes that England boss Gareth Southgate is "on the brink of footballing immortality” after guiding his squad to the Euro 2024 final. Lineker has been leading the BBC's coverage of the tournament and made clear with the statement that if England wins on Sunday, Southgate may become an infallible icon. A World Cup quarter-final and semi-final alongside another final at Euro 2020 provides decent reading in terms of a managerial resume.
But Southgate now has the chance to go one better and bring football home. Speaking on the The Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker and fellow Three Lions icon Alan Shearer discussed what a win would do for Southgate and what would happen if the team is victorious. Ex- Newcastle man Shearer claimed that Southgate will have "to get us over the line somehow, against the best team in the tournament, " to which Lineker responded: "He's on the brink of footballing immortality.
" Shearer carried on about what a victory would look like back home, stating: He will be [on the brink], they'll be sent to the palace on Monday, it'll be an open-top bus somewhere. If they win it, he will be knighted, and he’ll deserve that." The man himself has been relatively coy about his squad's chances, having lost the last Euros final in devastating fashion on penalties against Italy at Wembley - a memory that every fan in England will want to forget come Sunday.
Spain are favourites, according to the England manager, and he will have to defy the odds if h.