COMMENTATOR Guy Mowbray emotionally lead the tributes after BBC staff member Mat Wayne passed away.
Wayne had over 25 years of TV experience and worked as a floor manager for the broadcasters.
He worked on the Olympic Games, World Cups, Six Nations and more.
His sad death was revealed during the BBC's coverage of the FA Cup final between Manchester City and United.
Lineker said: "Before we hand back to the second half, everyone at BBC Sport would like to pay tribute to our much-loved friend and colleague Mat Wayne, who sadly passed away this week.
"Mat was a real force of nature, a true professional and someone you always enjoyed spending time with.
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"We'll all miss him terribly and send our condolences to his family and his friends, to which he had many."
And Mowbray added: "It will never not seem strange to me not having Mat by my side during commentary.
"All our thoughts are there with Sarah, Oscar and Anna."
After the match, an emotional Mowbray tweeted: "I missed my mate today. I will everyday."
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City won the game 2-1 thanks to a double from Ilkay Gundogan.
He said after the win: "To win a final is always special. Every trophy is special. This group deserves it.
"We played really well, second half was amazing and we deserved to lift another trophy.
"Obviously we know how we want to play the kick off and we aim to do that, to go long for Erling and try to get a second ball.
"It just placed amazingly for me and I just had to hit it. Obviously it was a quite good strike."
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