John Higgins makes Ally McCoist howl with joke about World Snooker Championship rival

had Ally McCoist in stitches with a clever comment about s party antics. Higgins joined McCoist and the rest of the TNT Sports crew in the studio for a live watchalong on Wednesday, having secured his safe passage to the second round of the tournament with a win over Joe O'Connor earlier in the week.

There could have been animosity between -mad Higgins and legend McCoist. But they appeared to be having great fun after Brecel's comments about being the 'Ronaldinho of snooker' were thrown into the mix.

Brecel, who beat Ryan Day at the Crucible on Wednesday, told Midnite about his approach to the sport: "I just don't really think a lot about winning tournaments and stuff like that. I just like playing the game. I'm more of a Ronaldinho type of player in snooker, so it's all about just entertaining and fun!"

When asked for his take on the comparison, : "It's a massive call. I mean, he's gone for it there." Commentator Darren Fletcher - regularly heard alongside McCoist on Champions League nights - interjected with: "I thought he might be talking about his nights out? I don't know."

And McCoist shrieked with laughter when Higgins jumped in and said: "They're pretty legendary as well, I think, Luca's nights out!"

Brecel was famously out until 4am the morning after his 2023 World Snooker Championship triumph, which included a victory over Mark Selby in the final. And the Belgian admitted he was even partying hard with his pals back home on his run to the £500k top prize.

So far this year, Brecel has been nothing but businesslike as he clinically came from behind to dispatch Day in the first round. But McCoist still has one or two questions about his choice of footballer.

"To be fair to him, he's not messing about," said the Scot. "He's thrown in Ronaldinho right away. He's not hit us with a Harry Kane or anything like that, he's thrown in Ronaldinho, so he obviously fancies himself as a bit of a talent, a bit of a boy. Fair play to him. He could have gone the whole hog and said [Lionel] Messi or [Diego] Maradona."

The difficulty level will go up for Brecel when he faces Ding Junhui on Saturday, while jokester Higgins also has a tough assignment against world No. 14 Xiao Guodong.