Lineker, Benzema, Iniesta: Which football players never received a red card?

Gary Lineker never received a yellow or red card.

It’s one of those amazing statistics in football that you struggle to believe is real, but alas, the legendary England striker managed to stay out of the referee’s book across a professional career spanning 1978 to 1994.

Yes, bookings were dished out far less frequently back in Lineker’s day, but it’s still a mind-blowing statistic when you consider just how easy it can be for a player to lose their composure for a split-second and bag themselves a cautioning as a result.

However, for Lineker, staying out of trouble was simply engrained in his attitude on the football pitch since he was a young boy with his father ensuring that he showed referees the upmost respect.

In fact, Lineker’s remarkable record of zero yellow and red cards becomes far more understandable when you bear in mind how his dad, Barry, once pulled up a young Gary for swearing at the referee.

During an unmissable appearance on the High Performance Podcast, Lineker retold the story of being physically removed from the pitch by his father as part of a lesson about respect that has stuck with him ’til this very day.

The Match of the Day presenter reflected in conversation with Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes: “Well, people often talk about the fact that I never got booked, I never got a yellow card or a red card in my whole career.

“And I go back to, I remember one incident that I remember really well. I was playing again. I must have been about 14 at the time, and I was scoring a lot of goals by that stage. And I think the referee gave two or three decisions that I didn’t agree with.

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“And I swore at the ref, and my dad walked onto the pitch, grabbed me by the