Gary Lineker deletes and addresses misunderstood tweet about England's Lionesses win after backlash

Former English footballer Gary Lineker has taken down a congratulatory tweet for England's Lionesses claiming many fans misunderstood its context.

The Leicester-born player took to Twitter on Sunday to tweet his reactions to the game and congratulate the Lionesses on their European Championship win.

As England was crowned the Euros champions, Lineker wrote: “The @Lionesses have only gone and done it, and Kelly is England's heroine, bra none.”

His play on words with “bra none” refers to winning goal-scorer Chloe Kelly, who celebrated England’s final goal by taking her shirt off.

However, many followers replied to Lineker’s tweet calling the former England player "sexist" and "smutty".

The tweet has since been deleted by Lineker after the backlash it received.

One person replied: "Women did what you couldn't and you reduce their victory to a bra joke! Your misogyny and jealousy betrays you!!"

Lineker swiftly deleted the tweet and explained it by saying, “It was just a play on words given the celebration. I do rubbish like that constantly on here [Twitter], including on men’s football.

"I’ve deleted it as many people didn’t see the game so missed the context."

Some fans agreed with Lineker. One wrote: "Wow, the amount of folks getting so triggered by this comment without a clue about its context."

The Lionesses won England’s first international title since 1966 - that’s 56 years after the men won against Germany in a somewhat similar final.

England played Germany in a dramatic final which went into extra time.

Lioness Chloe Kelly scored the winning goal ten minutes before the extra time whistle went, giving England the 2-1 victory they fought so hard for.

Over 17 million people watched the Women's Euros on Sunday night, a record number for women's football.