French football legend Christophe Dougary apologized for his sharp attack on Argentine captain Lionel Messi for Antoine Griezmann sitting on the bench of the Catalan team.

The recent confrontation in which Barcelona drew 2-2 with Atletico Madrid in the 33rd round of the Spanish League ignited the anger of supporters of the French star, who was seated by Barcelona coach Kiki Sittin in 3 of the last 4 matches of the Blaugrana.

The British newspaper "Sun" said that despite the major attack suffered by Sittin and Messi from the French media and press in addition to Griezmann's father, the most severe attack came from Dugari - crowned with the roosters in the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 - that insulted Messi in defense of his countryman.

"You are afraid of a child who is 1.5 meters long and has an autism? You just have to slap him on the face if there is a problem," said Dougary, 48, on French FMC Sports, addressing his words to Griezmann.

The attack came despite Dugari's admission that Griezmann had fallen, indicating that he was losing the ball and had lost confidence, describing him as "playing with a paralyzed leg."

RMC: Christophe Dugarry s'excuse, mais ne comprend pas son bad-buzz https://t.co/tZW66KCyCQ pic.twitter.com/4K0YyK05hP

- FootRadio.com (@FootRadio_com) July 2, 2020

Dugari faced a violent reaction after his humiliating attack on Messi, as the channel excluded him from her podcast team and the next might be worse for him despite his apology.

Dugari, who played for the Barcelona team in the 1997-1998 season, apologized in his Twitter account, expressing his sincere regret for his comments on Messi and saying, "I did not want to stigmatize people with autism, it was not my intention. I apologize to the people who offended me and I will do it again ".