Antoine Griezmann has generated controversy by uploading a photo of himself to social media with a ‘blackface’ costume at an 80s party.

The Atlético Madrid and France striker appeared unaware that the photo would lead to accusations of racism, as he captioned the image with ‘80s party’ alongside a laughing emoji and a basketball emoji.

Yet the vast majority of the responses across Twitter and Instagram were negative and many users asked Griezmann to delete the post, leading the 26-year-old to clarify that the costume was intended as a tribute.

He asked followers to “calm down,” before stating that “I’m fan of the Harlem globetrotters … it’s a tribute.”

Griezmann soon deleted the photo altogether, before posting a new message on Twitter accepting that he may have committed an error of judgement:

“I agree that it’s awkward for me. If I hurt some people excuse me,” he said.