From his studio overlooking Red Square, Gary Lineker has been following on his phone the excitement this World Cup has engendered back in England. These past few weeks, he has not been able to get enough of the memes and videos shared on social media by millions. He found himself this week transfixed by the images of huge crowds gathered to watch transmission of Gareth Southgate’s team in their semi-final.

“Madness,” he says of the extraordinary footage of plumes of beer erupting when Kieran Tripper scored. “Everyone must have gone home pretty smelly. Brilliant. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

One thing about the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, when it comes to the World Cup he knows what he is talking about: Sunday will be the ninth time Lineker has been involved in the broadcast of the final. His first was in 1986, when he was interviewed because he was in with a chance of winning the Golden Boot. In 1990, following England’s semi-final eviction, he worked as a pundit for ITV when West Germany took on Argentina. And at every final since, he has been there with the Beeb, our man at the beating heart of the action.

“All that proves is how old I am,” he laughs of a record no other British broadcaster can touch.