Former French international Bixente Lazarazu has weighed in on the feud between Karim Benzema and Olivier Giroud.

The Real Madrid striker made a controversial comment about former French teammate Olivier Giroud. Benzema had a dig at the Chelsea forward, who has been selected ahead of him in the French squad since 2015.

‘You don’t confuse F1 with go karting. And I’m being kind. Next… and I know I’m F1,’ he said in an Instagram Live video with French actor and comedian Thomas N’Gijol.

Trying to dissect the out-of-the-blue attack from Benzema, the former Bayern Munich left-back said: ‘Karim Benzema is expressing his frustration with the French team.’

However, Lazarazu feels the dig at Giroud was unnecessary as he has nothing to do with Benzema’s hiatus from the national team.

‘What he does in Madrid is extraordinary, and he can’t do it with the Blues. But Giroud is paying the price (for Benzema’s frustration), and he has nothing to do with it,’ he added.

The comment from Benzema caused quite the stir, but the 32-year-old doubled down on his swipe at Giroud by adding: ‘I told the truth, it is that simple’ in a separate post.

Barcelona forward and French international Antione Griezmann jumped to the defence of Giroud, saying: ‘I love Olivier Giroud, he’s a good player and he helped us win the World Cup. And that’s important in life.’