Gary Lineker divides opinion with on-air reaction to Japan's goal vs Croatia

Gary Lineker left fans divided on social media after showing off his Japanese during Croatia's win against Hajime Moriyasu's side on Monday.

Japan were sent home from the World Cup after losing a penalty shootout to the 2018 runners-up at Al Janoub Stadium. Although Japan's journey will not continue beyond the last 16, Lineker got the chance to speak in Japanese during the BBC's coverage.

Lineker played for Japanese side Nagoya Grampus at the end of his glittering career. Injuries hampered the striker's progress in Japan - scoring just four goals in 18 J1 League games - but he still managed to learn some of the language before returning to England.

"Subarashii desu ne [it is wonderful]," said BBC host Lineker as coverage cut back to the studio at half-time. "Very good! Wonderful from the Japanese."

Lineker was joined in the Match of the Day studio by Rio Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and Ashley Williams. Thankfully for the former Premier League stars, Lineker started speaking English again ahead of the half-time analysis and didn't test their Japanese.

Lineker switched languages throughout Monday's coverage to leave fans divided. One fan tweeted, "Lineker speaking Japanese is just what I needed," but another wrote, "Why does Lineker keep speaking random Japanese phrases because it's creeping me out."

What did you make of Gary Lineker's linguistic skills? Let us know in the comments below!

Lineker's linguistic skills were not the only entertaining aspect of Monday's tie between Japan and Croatia. Daizen Maeda gave Japan the lead in the first half to encourage Lineker to switch languages before a brilliant header by Ivan Perisic levelled the game.

Neither Japan nor Croatia could find a winner in extra-time and penalties were required to settle the clash. Japan never looked like winning the shootout, missing three of their four efforts to help their opponents comfortably get over the line.

"The experience told in the end," said Shearer, in English. "The guys who have done it before know what it's like to be under pressure in that situation. They handled it so much better, you could tell that.

"It was so frustrating from a Japanese point of view, it was like they have never practiced penalties, it looked that way. It was too big for them. The Japan penalty takers looked so casual. All three of them, I don't think any of them struck them as hard as they wanted to."

Ferdinand added: "This team [Japan] have done their country proud. The Japanese people will be super proud of this team, the way they have conducted themselves. They've come back from adversity at times, going a goal down against Spain and Germany [before winning both games 2-1]."

Croatia will face either pre-tournament favourites Brazil or Son Heung-min's South Korea in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, with those two nations meeting at Stadium 974 on Monday night. Neymar will play in the crucial game after recovering from injury.

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