Bengaluru, October 22: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has hit out at former England and Barcelona striker Gary Lineker's criticism of Karim Benzema labelling it as "embarrassing".

Benzema missed three positive chances in Tuesday's (October 17) 1-1 Champions League match against Tottenham at the Bernabeu which could have given the Los Blancos a victory.

However, after the match, the ex-Tottenham now a TV Pundit on Twitter called Benzema overrated after his display and claimed he has overshadowed teammate Cristiano Ronaldo's superb goalscoring feat.

Ahead of their weekend's match against Eibar Zidane was asked about Lineker's comments and the French World Cup winner indicated that he is clearly irked by the criticism of his centre-forward.

The Real Madrid boss claimed that his French forward is "by a long way" the best possible choice for his central line and suggested although Benzema does not score many goals but he adds a new dimension to the gameplay due to his all-around play and strength to support his teammates.

"It's not just Karim, he's annoying me with [what he says about] Karim because, for people who know football, it's embarrassing," Zidane said.

"For me, a striker doesn't only need to score goals. Karim has everything, not only the goals.

"If Karim has been at Real Madrid for almost 10 years it's not an accident. He always recovers from everything, always shows his qualities.

"On the pitch, he is the best. He has everything. Every quality for a footballer. He could improve, he knows, and he works for it. When he scores more goals, he will be happier."

Benzema is almost sure to start against Eibar on Sunday evening, however, the defending Champions could be without goalkeeper Keylor Navas as well as Gareth Bale, Dani Carvajal and Mateo Kovacic who all are long-term injury concerns. Madrid currently sit at the third place, five points adrift of leaders Barcelona.