In a major embarrassment for BBC, viewers were stunned to hear a “sexual noise” in the background during the live coverage of a prestigious football match on the leading TV channel.

In what has turned out to be an act of sabotage, ‘sexual noise’ was heard when former England football great Gary Lineker was presenting the third-round replay between Wolves and Liverpool.

Social media was flooded with messages over the scandalous happening.

It was later found out that the noise was emanating from a mobile phone that Linekar said was taped to the back of the set.

BBC issued a statement saying: “We apologise to any viewers offended during the live coverage of the football this evening.”

After the match started, Linekar tweeted the picture of a phone that was taped to the back of his chair. He wrote: “Well, we found this taped to the back of the set. As sabotage goes it was quite amusing.”

An investigation has been launched to catch the culprit.