Brede Hangeland and Emmanuel Adebayor challenge for the ball in 2013. Stephen Pond/EMPICS Sport

Former Fulham defender Brede Hangeland has listed forwards Emmanuel Adebayor and Dimitar Berbatov among the laziest footballers he played with, in a lighthearted interview in his native Norway.

The towering centre-back, who retired in August, told a number of anecdotes from his 15-year career on the podcast "Heia Fotball" and listed his "Laziest XI" of former teammates.

Hangeland also named Wilfried Zaha and Jimmy Bullard, while Berbatov was singled out for spending more time getting massages than training.

The former Norway international claimed Adebayor would be drinking coffee in the gym rather than working out when they played together at Crystal Palace, and said the striker once asked him for restaurant tips during a game when Fulham played against Tottenham.

"This was incredible ... Fulham was attacking and I was standing by the halfway line marking Adebayor, and he says to me: 'Ah, I'm hungry,'" Hangeland said. "I said, 'What?' He said 'I'm hungry. I can't wait for the game to finish. I want to go to a restaurant. Do you know a good restaurant in London, Hangeland?' In all my years, I've never had the kind of conversation I had in the centre circle at White Hart Lane."

And when the striker turned up at Palace last year, he did not impress with his work ethic either, Hangeland said.

"When we had strength training, he would sit in the weight room on a chair with a cup of coffee and a muffin," the Norwegian said. "We knew that he was being paid by three clubs at the same time [Manchester City, Tottenham and Palace] ... and he was sitting in the gym drinking coffee."

Hangeland added that Berbatov, the former Tottenham and Manchester United striker who joined Fulham in 2012, was also not known for working hard in training.

"I have never seen a man get so many massages. I'm sure he spent more time getting massages than he did training, guaranteed," Hangeland said. "Because the guy who would give the massages was a good friend of mine.

"Every time we were doing strength training, he would be getting a massage. And at the end of a long season, usually the players would give the physios some kind of gift.

Dimitar Berbatov and Brede Hangeland played alongside one another at Fulham. Joe Giddens/EMPICS Sport

"Taking them out for dinner was like the minimum, or you would give them some money or even buy them a holiday. Because these are guys who have worked for hours throughout the year for you to be able to perform. And they make nothing compared to the players. So it's a nice tradition. But this guy had massaged Berbatov for hundreds of hours throughout the season, and he received nothing. And he was so angry."

Hangeland also said Bullard "looked like a prison inmate who doesn't get enough food" while he claimed Zaha has an "amazing" physique but does not work hard enough to fulfil his potential.

"Some Mondays, he'd come over to me and say: 'I'm starting my programme now!' He'd do five push-ups, sigh, then leave," Hangeland said. "He would have been incredible if he was serious."

Zaha didn't take lightly to the criticism, saying on Twitter: "I don't appreciate old team mates telling lies just to stay relevant! It's sad."

The Palace winger, who is at the African Nations Cup with Ivory Coast, added: "We all have different bodies so because I'm not constantly in the gym or doing the same as someone else doesn't mean I don't work hard."