‘Politics enters everything ... all I did was ask for a bit of empathy’
The presenter reflects on the ‘disproportionate’ BBC furore, welcoming refugees into his home and getting a standing ovation in his local M&S ‘As a player I was quite cold but I’m a different human now ... you have to educate yourself ’ Sid Lowe 3 Jun 2023, The Guardian - Sport Gary Lineker is squeezed into the back of a Fiat Punto whizzing through Italian streets . All sharp, frantic, narrow turns, something about the scene feels familiar, echoes of the opening to Asif Kapadia’s film on Maradona, and from behind the driver going through the gears there’s a grin. “I’ve never felt so close to Diego,” the former England striker says, voice just audible over the rattle of cobbles. “If only it was Naples.” Instead, this is Rome. Lineker has come to receive a Sport and Human Rights award from Amnesty International . Here, not sticking to sport is cause for commendation, not criticism, still less punishment. “A lot of people like footballers having a voice, using their platform; when t