Football fans were greeted by Gary Lineker back on the BBC as the former Leicester City player presented coverage of Manchester City vs Burnley in the FA Cup. The commentator caused a stir after calling the Government's immigration bill "beyond awful" and compared the language to that used in 1930s Germany, which sparked a row over his - and the BBC's - impartiality.
Following the controversial comments, Lineker was taken off air by the BBC. Widespread disruption in sports coverage followed as a number of his colleagues refused to work in solidarity.
On Monday (March 13) the presenter's return to the screens was confirmed following mounting pressure. BBC bosses said they were looking forward to his appearance on Match of the Day tonight (Saturday, March 18), following his commentary on today's FA Cup matc,h and BBC director-general Tim Davie also said there would be an independent review into its guidelines.
Read more: Gary Lineker breaks silence as he returns to BBC Saturday job
Appearing alongside fellow BBC pundit and ex-player Alan Shearer, Lineker did not acknowledge any of the uproar which followed his brief departure. Instead, Shearer, who was one of the colleagues who had refused to go on air during the row, apologised to viewers for the disruption caused.
Shearer said: "I just need to clear up and wanted to say how upset we were that all the audiences missed out on last weekend. It was a really difficult situation for everyone concerned and through no fault of our own some really great people in TV and radio were put in an impossible situation that wasn't fair. So it's good to get back to some sort of normality and be talking about football again."
"I absolutely echo these statements," replied Lineker, before moving into a discussion of the match.
Just before the beginning of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley, Lineker tweeted a selfie with the stadium behind him and said: "Ah the joys of being allowed to stick to football."
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