Lineker’s lift-off with solid start

A NEW era but with the reassurance of old comforts. There were three familiar faces, that trusted arrangement of pundits, pitch, couch and window — and then the the most recognisable facet of all, the Lineker quip.

It took 10 minutes to come and then, in introducing the adverts, he said: ‘Plenty to look forward to after the break — we get breaks, what a luxury.’

Safe, classic, inoffensive Gary Lineker. And that, most likely, served a valuable purpose as BT Sport got to work on justifying the fortune they spent on the rights to Champions League football.

If t he Premier League i s an elongated product that sometimes needs a gimmick, the Champions League sells itself. And BT Sport allowed that, with a well- chosen pundits’ panel of Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Glenn Hoddle.

There was a technical hitch which affected coverage on the app or online. Just in case you missed it, Scholes’ take on Wayne Rooney’s form was especially interesting, not least because he managed to offer insight, while also pinning most of the blame on United’s supply line.

‘He will be frustrated,’ he said to Lineker. ‘As you know more than most, when you are making runs and the ball is not coming it drives you insane. The amount of times Ruud van Nistelrooy went crazy when Cristiano (Ronaldo) wasn’t crossing the ball…’

Hoddle felt Rooney should see himself as ‘fox in the box’ rather than deeplying marauder.

From there, they also sent Owen Hargreaves to interview his former Bayern team-mate Schweinsteiger in the Old Trafford dressing room and next to the pitch. A nice, cosy approach undermined somewhat by Louis van Gaal’s starting XI.

But if that was unlucky, at least they had a good game to start off with. And if you didn’t like it, the red button gave the option of three others. A fail-safe system, if Bate Borisov v Partisan Belgrade is your thing.

A solid start all round.