Gary Lineker has told the terrifying story of how his son, Harry, was nearly killed in a riot during a football match between Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Harry was caught up in the chaos while filming the 2022 World Cup qualifier after Sierra Leone missed a crucial penalty in injury time.

Disappointed fans stormed the pitch to show their discontent, throwing rocks as the situation descended into anarchy.

Lineker spoke of the harrowing experience on his ‘Behind Closed Doors’ podcast, saying that Harry “nearly lost his life” in the midst of the madness.

We’ll let Gary tell you the rest.

“Harry’s been in Africa filming in Sierra Leone, he’s been there a few days doing a bit of work around the FIFA match between Sierra Leone and Liberia.

“Liberia won the first leg 3-1 and then it was played at Sierra Leone and they were there filming behind the scenes, in the dressing rooms, with all the fans.

Well, my Harry nearly lost his life - it was a bit of a scary moment.

“Sierra Leone got a goal and they need one more to go through on away goals and they had a penalty in the last minute and the fella missed it and it kicked off - there were riots, it went bonkers, they were attacking the pitch, throwing rocks.

“Harry was with the camera guy and a fixer and (after) the mass invasion they got split, and Harry was on his own and he’s running and he thinks ‘I’ll take cover in the tunnel’.

“So he gets into the tunnel and then all the fans come in - there’s 50 or 60 of them and he gets attacked.

“They were ripping his clothes off, they’ve taken his phone and everything out of his pockets - he only had his fags, being a silly smoker, typical Harry, and he was terrified - genuinely terrified.

He thought he saw a blade and thought he was going to get knifed.

“There was an armed guard with a shield and he was shielding people off so he (Harry) dived behind the shield and he said he was there for quite a while and this guy saved him thankfully and got him into a room.”

Absolutely awful.

Thank goodness Harry was able to make a break for it with the help of the armed guard.

We’re all for passion in football, but when people are harmed as a direct result of it, it makes absolutely no sense.

Let’s keep the beautiful game, beautiful.