Karim Benzem has insisted he was right to claim he is “Formula One” and World Cup winner Olivier Giroud is “karting”.
The Real Madrid striker attacked the Chelsea forward during an Instagram Live chat and added “Aside from that, does everyone like the way he plays?”
And Benzema, who has not played for France since 2015, yesterday released a video on social media to repeat his mockery of his fellow international.
“I simply told the truth,” he said. “What I said about what he brought to the French team hasn't been remembered. We remembered when I said I was Formula One and he is karting.
"That's what I think, it's the truth and that's how it is. If you ask me about R9 (Brazilian Ronaldo): he is Formula One and I am karting, that's how it is!”
Benzema was first left out of the France team – and criticised by the French prime minister - after he was arrested by French police for the alleged blackmailing of Mathieu Valbuena over a sex tape in 2015.
When he was exluded from the squad for their home Euro 2016, he claimed that coach Didier Deschamps had “bowed to pressure from a racist part of France”.
Benzema, who is now 32, comes from Algerian descent.
Deschamps said last year he could never forgive Benzema for the slur and also omitted him in 2018 when France won the World Cup with Giroud up front.
Benzema, who scored 27 goals in 81 appearances for France, is still under investigation for blackmail and could yet face trial.
His Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has backed his international recall.
But Deschamps has continued to pick Giroud despite the 33-year-old failing to play regularly for Chelsea this season and is seen as one of the head coach's favourite players.
Giroud has now scored 39 times in 93 internationals as is France's third all-time goal scorer behind only Thierry Henry and Michel Platini.
But when asked in the Instagram Live chat if the Chelsea striker was better than him, four-time Champions League winner Benzema said: “That can be quickly answered. We don't confuse Formula One and karting and I am being nice. I know that I am Formula One.
“It works because he is there, that is the only reason. It won’t be spectacular, he won’t do something amazing, but he has his thing. Aside from that, does everyone like the way he plays? I don’t know.”