Gary Lineker has hit out at The Sun after it printed a story claiming he spent £1,000 on a single bottle of wine while "dining with two women," a week after his divorce.
The sports presenter and former footballer tweeted that the newspaper hadn't "let the truth ruin a good story" after it published the article, titled 'Single Gary Lineker splashes £1k on bottle of wine... while dining with two women'.
Lineker and his ex-wife Danielle Bux
The piece said that Lineker, 55, had "splashed" out on the bottle of wine and was having dinner with two women after divorcing his wife of six years, the model Danielle Bux, 36.
The ex-England star had posted a photo of a bottle of wine on Instagram on Saturday night with the comment "Oh go on then".
The Sun article said his dinner in West London involved "blowing a grand on a bottle of wine" and eating with "two women" who it later identified as "Sol Campbell’s ex Kelly Hoppen.. another woman and a male pal."
After seeing the piece, Lineker dismissed it as untrue, saying that the bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1999, which The Sun claimed was worth £1,000, was "a gift" and he had been eating with two couples.
He tweeted: "Erm...I was with 2 couples actually and the wine was a gift, but hey, why let the truth ruin a good story".
Lineker though didn't actually dispute the cost of the wine, and as a seasoned social media professional, might have expected some blow-back for the original Instagram post.
After one commenter on Twitter told him not to read The Sun, he replied "I don't mate. Got sent the story."
Bux and the Match of the Day host were granted a decree nisi at Southampton County Court last week, meaning the court saw no reason why they can't end their six-year marriage. Couples can apply for a decree absolute, to formally end the marriage, six weeks after a decree nisi.
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Lineker's tweet comes after his brother Wayne claimed he had been "stitched up" by The Sun in an article in which the paper reported the Lineker family were happy about the divorce.
Wayne shared screenshots of texts from a Sun reporter on social media, apparently showing her pursuing him for a quote about Bux, and then writing a story saying the Lineker family were "glad she’s going" despite Wayne saying "I've never said Garys [sic] family would be happy they split".
Gary Lineker’s son George also hit out at The Sun story saying it was “very untrue”.