I thought I played brilliantly against Gary Lineker but then I found out he had diarhhea – I still got his shirt but glad it wasn’t his shorts!

England went head-to-head with the Republic of Ireland at the 1990 World Cup in a match Gary Lineker would rather forget.

It came just two years after the rival nations faced off at Euro 1988, in a match that saw Ireland edge a 1-0 win as both sides crashed out at the group stage.

The Home Nations sides were paired up again at the following World Cup and battled to a group stage 1-1 draw in Cagliari.

But the match was made famous for a rather embarrassing episode that led to England striker Lineker having to leave the pitch due to a bout of diarrhoea.

Mick McCarthy captained the Irish team that night and was the lucky recipient of Lineker’s match-worn shirt.

The former Wolves and Ipswich boss credits Lineker’s England jersey as among his most treasured mementos from the tournament, but admits he was glad he didn’t take home his shorts.

“I have to say Gary Lineker’s when we played them in the 1990 World Cup,” McCarthy told talkSPORT when asked about the best memento from his football career.

“Of course he went off because he got diarrhoea, apparently.

“It dampened my performance after that. I was really disappointed, I thought I played well.

“I’m glad I got his shirt and not his shorts after the game!”

Lineker has openly admitted that the messy mishap occurred whilst on the pitch after spending the first-half suffering with stomach cramps.

“I had a bit of a dickie stomach, I don’t know where it came from," Lineker said in 2018. “I managed to get through the first half despite terrible stomach cramps.

"You know, it’s a World Cup, you cannot say ‘Excuse me, ref, is it alright if I pop off for five minutes?’

“Anyway, the ball went and I kind of go for it but I stumble a little bit.

"And as I stumbled, I… relaxed.

“I remember Gary Stevens coming up to me and he’s looking over me saying, ‘Are you alright?’

“And I just remember saying: ‘I’ve s*** myself?' What do you do?"

Despite his troubles, Lineker opened the scoring on the night and went on to register a total of four goals at the tournament as England reached the semi-final, before losing on penalties to West Germany.