Versailles (AFP)

After this exchange between the two men at the training center of the French football team, which led to Benzema being tried for complicity in attempted blackmail around an intimate video, the complainant felt "afraid "and" upset ", he described at the bar.

Benzema, who had been commissioned through an intermediary of the alleged blackmailers, was "insistent on making me meet someone," said Valbuena.

His teammate in selection was not aggressive and did not mention money, admitted the alleged victim, who added, however, that "when we solve a problem like that (...) it is not in exchange of football seats ".

Regarding his relationship with Real Madrid striker Valbuena, who currently plays for Olympiakos (Greece) said: "I was much closer to some players, but I didn't have a bad relationship with him either. Outside of football, in private life, we have never seen each other.

"We are teammates in the France team, it's the Holy Grail for footballers, I never thought we could have come to this," he added.

Mathieu Valbuena also assured that if he had "known that Benzema was in this affair, (he would have) never lodged a complaint".

"I am a victim, it was very hard to hear what Karim could say", he continued.

"Since this affair, I have never been able to get a foothold in the France team".

Karim Benzema, who is represented by Me Antoine Vey, is not present at the hearing, his lawyer having advanced "professional" reasons.

He theoretically risks five years in prison and a 75,000 euros fine.

© 2021 AFP