Gazza and Vinnie Jones break down in tears as they discuss famous football photo

Football harden Vinnie Jones and Paul Gascoigne let down their guards during an emotional reunion on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories.

Show host Piers, 55, brought the England football legends together in his studio where they gushed over their admiration for each other.

Sportsman-turned-actor Vinnie, 55, was in the hottest on the ITV talk show – while 5 3-year-old fellow footballer Gazza was in the live studio audience.

During the course of the conversation, Piers shared the an infamous image of Vinnie grabbing Gazza’s take on the football pitch.

The lads joked about the famous moment, with Vinnie declaring Gazza “deserved” to be manhandled on the pitch in front of the crowds – and TV cameras.

Vinnie revealed the moment was inspired seemingly out of jealousy over the adoration an army of women showed to his younger rival.

He laughed: “He deserved that bit because he came out in the warm up and there were girls coming over with flowers and roses and all that. And he was loving it.

“And I was like ‘oh you’ll do for me today, son’.”

Conversation then turned serious, with Piers quizzing Vinnie over his true feelings for his sport rival.

The talk show host asked: “How good was he?”

Turning earnest, Vinnie said Gazza was: “One of the best if not the best that I’ve played against.”

Piers then asked: “Gazza? What does that make you feel to hear him say that?”

Becoming emotions, Gazza fought back tears and said: “It’s great to hear. It’s 30 years he’s been a friend of mine.”

While Vinnie himself also became teary as the two friends shared their respect for each other.

Piers had warned fans that emotional scenes would be seen in the episode of Life Stories, tweeting seconds before it began airing that the episode was the “most emotional” yet.