Ex-Barca Striker Lineker Risks Wrath of Real Madrid Fans by Claiming Star Striker Is 'Overrated'

Former England international Gary Lineker has taken a swipe at a Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema for his goal scoring ratio. 

Lineker enjoyed a prolific career at club and international level. He scored 238 in 460 appearances playing for the likes of Leicester City, Everton, Tottenham, Nagoya Grampus Eight and Real Madrid's La Liga rivals Barcelona. He also netted 48 times for England in 80 international caps. 

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Now Lineker has heavily criticised another striker Karim Benzema for his own goal scoring record at Real Madrid. The TV pundit took to Twitter during Real Madrid's Champion League match against Lineker's former side Tottenham to question the Frenchman's goal scoring ability. 

Lineker wrote: "Is it me or is Benzema a tad overrated? A goal every other game in a team as strong as Real Madrid is nada especial. Decent not great."

But Lineker's criticism didn't stop there as he replied to a person who commented on the tweet to defend Benzema's importance to this Real Madrid team and Cristiano Ronaldo, but also admitted that finishing was most likely "the worst part of his game." 

The former striker again took another swipe at Benzema when he replied by suggesting that Ronaldo's 'brilliance' has been rescuing the Frenchman. 

This led to many more exchanges between the two debating Benzema's overall importance, but it appears as Lineker was having not of it as he then said "he's decent, but not great, sorry."

Benzema joined Real Madrid from Lyon in 2009 and has since Since then he has made 248 appearances for Los Blancos, scoring 128 times during that time. He also netted 43 times in 112 games for his former club Lyon. 

The Real Madrid star will hope to start proving Lineker wrong, beginning with Madrid's next game at home to Eibar on Sunday.