Former France international striker Steve Savidan has blasted the critics of Chelsea centre-forward Olivier Giroud.

Savidan says Giroud deserves greater respect for his role in France's World Cup triumph.

He told Foot Mercato: "This treatment that was reserved for him was unacceptable. I love this player. He's someone I like in his behavior and he's a player who does what he knows how to do.

"He knows what he is asked to do, he does not invent qualities. And it is profitable! When he overtook Zinedine Zidane in the number of goals scored (for the Blues), we immediately put them in comparison. But you have to compare something that is comparable.

"I heard hallucinating things. As a number 9, I'm not sure we have better than him in France, with his characteristics. We have a panel of high-performance players with different profiles. It's still good!

"The France team has several game plans. When there is Giroud, it's a possibility. When he is not there, there is another. We do not savour what we have."