Mathieu Valbuena backs Real Madrid's Karim Benzema for 2022 Ballon d'Or despite sex tape blackmail scandal

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Updated 08/06/2022 at 08:52 GMT

Karim Benzema is the favourite to win the 2022 Ballon d'Or after his impressive season for Real Madrid which saw him score 44 goals across all competitions. His former France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena says Benzema "deserves the Ballon d’Or". Benzema recently dropped an appeal after he was found guilty of complicity in the attempted blackmail of Valbuena over an explicit video.

Former France midfielder Mathieu Valbuena has given his backing to Karim Benzema to win the Ballon d’Or, despite their chequered history over the sex tape scandal.

Real Madrid striker Benzema, 34, was one of five people tried over an attempt to blackmail Valbuena with an explicit video stolen from his phone.

Benzema was found guilty of complicity in the attempted blackmail last November and was given a one-year suspended sentence.

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Benzema recently dropped an appeal against the sentence and Valbuena, who now plays for Olympiakos, says he has “turned the page”.

Valbuena also said his former France team-mate deserves the Ballon d’Or after a season that saw him win La Liga and the Champions League, scoring 44 goals across all competitions.

“It would not be honest to say he doesn’t deserve the Ballon d’Or,” Valbuena told RMC Sport.

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“Yes, he deserves the Ballon d’Or. I can objectively speak about football and I can also talk about something which has happened before. Either we talk about football or what happens off the pitch.”

Benzema returned to international duty for France last summer after a five-and-a-half-year absence, while Valbuena, 37, has not played for his country since 2015.

"I've turned the page after all these years," added Valbuena.

"I hold no hard feelings, they were difficult moments that I managed to pick myself up from.

"I would have liked for my to career to end in another way but that's how it is.”

Both Valbuena and Benzema missed out on a place at Euro 2016 following the sex tape scandal.

Mathieu Valbuena (L) and Karim Benzema

Image credit: Getty Images

Asked what the incident cost him, Valbuena said: “My place in the France team. Euro 2016 was in France.

“I was a victim in this case, I’ll say it again, when I received anonymous phone calls from those people who wanted to blackmail me. I didn’t know who was on the end of the line so I took the process all the way.

“As everyone knows, it penalised me a lot in the sporting sense and also in my private life. There were difficult moments after which I was able to get back up…I would have liked to finish my France career in another way but that’s how it was. That’s how it is, it’s my career.”

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