On this day: England's Gary Lineker hits four against Spain

If you were picking an all-time XI made up of England internationals, who would you choose as the two strikers?

The likes of Jimmy Greaves, Michael Owen, Nat Lofthouse, Wayne Rooney and 1966 hero Sir Geoff Hurst would surely all be in contention, while the country's record goalscorer - Sir Bobby Charlton - often played in a midfield role.

Surely, though, one of those forward places would go to Gary Lineker, a scorer of 48 goals for the Three Lions - 10 of which came in two separate World Cup tournaments.

The penalty box poacher scored another four of that haul in one friendly encounter in the Spanish capital Madrid 28 years ago today.

The home side took the lead early on when Emilio Butragueno converted Chendo's cross, but after that, Lineker took centre stage.

He drew England level in the 24th minute with a close-range header from Glenn Hoddle's chip to the back post, and then four minutes later the Barcelona frontman pounced on Viv Anderson's knockdown to score his second goal of the contest.

The hat-trick was completed just two minutes after the restart when Spain goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta parried Peter Beardsley's effort up into the air and Lineker reacted quickest to nod the ball into an unguarded net.

Ten minutes later, Lineker fired in his and England's fourth goal of the match with a left-footed drive from the edge of the area and although Ramon Vazquez reduced the arrears late on, the evening belonged to Lineker.

In a Daily Mail article from 2011, Lineker was quoted as saying: "I became an adopted Catalan when I scored a hat-trick against Real Madrid and followed it a month later with four goals for England. Barcelona's slogan is 'Mes que un club,' Catalan for 'More than a club.' And it really is.

"After the Spanish Civil War, the only place the locals could speak Catalan freely was in the Nou Camp, when the football was on. Barca fans couldn't have been happier after this match - I woke up to headlines in Barcelona along the lines of: 'Catalan player scores four goals against Spain.'"

In the same piece, Beardsley added: "I don't think Gary realised just how good he was. He was one of the best finishers the world has ever seen, and, without being big-headed, I think we had the perfect partnership and he was a dream to play with."

SPAIN: Zubizarreta; Gordillo, Camacho, Arteche, Chendo; Munoz, Michel, Gallego, Vazquez; Carrasco, Butragueno

ENGLAND: Shilton; Anderson, Adams, Butcher, Sansom; Hoddle, Robson, Hodge, Waddle; Beardsley, Lineker