Versailles (AFP)

"It's been six years that we have this case, everyone is there or almost, Karim is missing", regretted Valbuena in front of the press, before evoking at the bar their famous conversation of October 6, 2015 at the center of training of the French team in Clairefontaine.

Benzema, who had been commissioned through an intermediary of the alleged master singers, was "insisting on making me meet someone," said Valbuena, 37.

His team-mate in the selection was not aggressive and did not mention money, recognizes Valbuena, who however adds that "when we solve a problem like that (...) it is not in exchange for football places ".

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

"I was afraid for my sports career, for the France team. I knew that if the video came out, it would be complicated for me in the France team, as we saw later", continues the midfielder of Olympiakos (Greece).

A feeling that Benzema could not respond to at the hearing.

His lawyer, Antoine Vey, explained the absence of the star striker of Real Madrid, candidate for the Golden Ball, for "professional" reasons: the 33-year-old player, who theoretically incurs 5 years in prison and 75,000 euros fine, played a match in Ukraine on Tuesday evening and must prepare for the "Clasico" against FC Barcelona on Sunday.

"I hope that the court will draw the consequences", of this absence, launched the lawyer of the plaintiff Me Paul-Albert Iweins.

"I was afraid"

At the helm, Valbuena traces the thread of this somewhat nebulous story.

It was Djibril Cissé, his former teammate in Marseille, who was the first to talk to him about this intimate video, giving him a precise description after watching an excerpt.

Blackmail with sextape: opening of the AFP trial

"I felt in danger, my first instinct was to file a complaint," explains Valbuena, who specifies that he never had "the idea of ​​paying".

On the other side of the bar, the accused defend themselves from any blackmail.

Axel Angot, who found the coveted video when Valbuena gave him his phone before copying it to his computer, points out "not having heard of money".

He explains that he wanted to help, even for free, hoping that the player will return the elevator to him one day.

Hardly, he acknowledges lip service that this business came "indirectly to the same thing as blackmail".

His friend Mustapha Zouaoui, considered to be the other "brain" of this affair, admits that Axel Angot "would not have said no" if Valbuena had been generous.

Mustapha Zouaoui, involved in the sextape affair, responds to journalists before the opening of the trial at the Versailles Criminal Court on October 20, 2021 Thomas SAMSON AFP

"We didn't want to bleed him, we didn't want her to release this video," he promised.

"Mother Teresa"

Younes Houass, that MM.

Angot and Zouaoui had contacted to serve as an intermediary in their company, comes forward in turn.

This man who gravitated in the world of football, the only one except Benzema to have spoken directly to Valbuena during this affair, recalls not having asked for money when the two men exchanged on the phone.

Combo of photos of Djibril Cissé and Mathieu Valbuena in the French team made on October 13, 2015 FRANCK FIFE, DENIS CHARLET AFP / Archives

"I advised him to turn to a man of confidence, someone who can have a cool head in this kind of situation," he told the court.

"Stop pretending that you are mother Teresa, you are interested in money", interrupts the president of the court, Christophe Morvan.

"I am not Mother Teresa", admits the person concerned.

Noting that Younes Houass, who had been put in contact by Valbuena with an undercover policeman, "slipped" in his negotiations, in the words of the president of the court, MM.

Angot and Zouaoui then have "the bright idea" of turning to Karim Zenati, childhood friend of Benzema.

The latter then enters the dance at Clairefontaine.

Since this case, Valbuena has not been called to the Blues, unlike the Real Madrid striker.

Benzema stayed away for more than five years before making a surprise comeback before the Euro in June.

© 2021 AFP