Karim Benzema only thinks about the El Clásico this Sunday at the Camp Nou against Barcelona, starting at 4:15 p.m.. The Real Madrid striker is the cornerstone of the white team at the moment, even more so considering the impressive numbers he has shown in this start of the course: ten goals and seven assists in the first ten games for Madrid, and two more in as many duels with France.
However, an important stone loomed in Benzema’s path this week: the Valbuena Case trial (in France known as the Sextape Case), to be held from October 20 to 22 in Versailles and in which Benzema is among the accused; They ask for five years in prison and a fine of up to 75,000 euros for complicity in attempted blackmail. The possibility that Benzema had to spend two days in his country, focused on how his personal and professional future looks after this process, greatly compromised Madrid’s options in the Classic. But, fortunately for the whites, Benzema only has eyes for the Barcelona party, as he will not attend the Versailles trial.
Yes, his lawyers will do it, who will show their legal representation and who will refer to the statements that Benzema has already made in the past in relation to the case: two citizens in relation to footballers obtained a video with sexual content in which Mathieu Valbuena appeared, current Olympiacos player, and they blackmailed him with his publication if he did not pay an amount (about 150,000 euros); Valbuena reported the case and, under police supervision, met with different intermediaries to resolve the case, one of whom is Benzema’s childhood friend.
Benzema gambles his future with France
In a concentration in France, the white striker commented on the situation with Valbuena and at that moment he was accused of collaborating in blackmail; the footballer has always defended that his only intention was to help his partner to “manage” the situation, without having anything to do with blackmail. The explosion of the case, however, ended with Valbuena and Benzema separated from the French team, to which the Madridista returned last summer to play the European Championship, after a conversation with Deschamps in which they smoothed out rough spots.
But this trial could mean a new setback for Benzema, should he be found guilty; the French Football Federation (FFF) always argued lack of exemplarity to remove Benzema from the national team for almost six years, although he had not been tried or convicted. However, Benzema has absolute confidence that his version will remain standing during the trial, to the point that he will remain in his previous statements and will not go to Versailles for the process. Valbuena’s lawyers, meanwhile, have confirmed that the Olympiacos player will appear at the trial.