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Gary Lineker has defended his gushing praise for Lionel Messi during Argentina’s 3-0 semi-final win over Croatia and says football fans should “savour every second” that the Argentinian magician is on their screens.

The 35-year-old has won man of the match in four of his six World Cup appearances, scoring five goals and laying on three for his team-mates. But some pundits have hit out at BBC presenter Lineker for giving Messi special praise.

But Lineker, 61, has hit back, insisting Messi’s incredible talent on the pitch deserves all the applause.

“People always go on at me about how much I talk about Messi but I make no apologies for that, and I never will, because watching him has given me so much joy – nearly two decades of absolute delight in fact,” he wrote in his BBC column.

“He is 35 now, and we haven’t got much longer of him left, so let’s savour every second.”