Newcastle United fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst after the team’s poor start to the season.The Magpies suffered back-to-back defeats against Tottenham and Huddersfield during the opening weeks of the 2017-18 campaign while the future of their popular manager Rafael Benitez was also up in the air.Benitez was reportedly unhappy with the lack of signings made by the club and there appeared to be a very real possibility of the experienced Spanish coach walking out on the club.But he stayed and helped Newcastle record an impressive 3-0 victory over West Ham before the international break.Benitez’s men, having recovered from their poor start, now find themselves fourth in the Premier League table following wins over Swansea City and Stoke City over the past seven days.

Lineker's hilarious interview with Benitez

After his side’s 2-1 win over Stoke on Saturday, Benitez was interviewed by Gary Lineker on Match of the Day.

But nobody could believe what Lineker said to Benitez.

“I have to say in the studio this afternoon was Alan Shearer, who was getting very excited this afternoon,” Lineker began. “He even promised to do the first Match of the Day next season in just his underwear if you win the league. So Rafa, can you pull it off for him?”

Noticing his inadvertent but hilarious innuendo, Lineker quickly added: “Actually, that’s a terrible turn of phrase I used there,” before laughing.

Benitez either didn’t get the accidental joke, or wanted to remain professional on camera, because he didn’t wet himself laughing like viewers did.

You can watch the brilliant video in full here…

How MOTD viewers reacted to the interview

As you can imagine, Match of the Day viewers found the interview most amusing…

Lineker and Shearer react on Twitter

Both Lineker and Shearer then reacted to the incident on Twitter after filming had finished…