BT Sport apologise after infamous Harry Redknapp rant is heard during coverage of Arsenal's Champions League tie

The incident occurred at half-time, triggering presenter Gary Lineker to issue an apology

Simon Rice
Thursday 17 September 2015 09:24 BST
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Gary Lineker and Harry Redknapp
Gary Lineker and Harry Redknapp (GETTY IMAGES)

BT Sport's coverage of the Champions League, which began this week, was hit by an embarrassing incident when an infamous foul-mouthed rant by Harry Redknapp could be heard during their broadcast of last night's Arsenal game.

As presenter Gary Lineker cut to an advert break during half-time of the Gunner's 2-1 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb, the audio of Redknapp could be heard. It was a snippet from a memorable altercation the former manager had after being struck by a ball whilst conducting an interview.

"You try to kick it in the goal, and you hit me?" Redknapp says. "You've got some f****** brains ain't ya?"

Following the break, Lineker immediately apologised before turning his attention back to analysing Arsenal's performance with pundits Steven Gerrard, Ian Wright and Rio Ferdinand.

"I’d like to apologise, apparently we had some spurious sounds just before we left you for the commercial break, so apologies if any bad language was heard," said Lineker.

How the incident occurred is not clear, although there are suggestions the audio may have been the ringtone of someone behind the scenes in the studio.

The original footage of Redknapp was filmed during his time as Portsmouth manager. The identity of the player who kicked the ball has never been confirmed.

Watch the original video below (please be aware offensive language is used)...

BT Sport paid £897m for the rights to the Champions League over the next three seasons.

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