Karim Benzema advised Mathieu​ Valbuena to settle with blackmailers

Paris: Frenchman Karim Benzema tried to convince his compatriot Mathieu Valbuena to negotiate with the blackmailers who claimed they owned a sex tape of the latter, according to an alleged telephone conversation by the Real Madrid footballer.

In the recording lasting nearly 20 minutes, made on October 6, Benzema talks with a childhood friend, also indicted in this case, and explains that Valbuena is not serious and is beginning to think the whole thing is a "joke", reorts Efe.

The caller, who radio station Europe 1 claimed on Tuesday as Benzema, told his friend that he had advised Valbuena to meet with the blackmailer and promised him that there were no other copies of the sex tape.

According to this account, Valbuena began to "panic" after Benzema assured him that he is "seen clearly" in the video, including his tattoos.

At the end of the conversation, filled with laughter throughout, Benzema says his role must "stop there" with alerting Valbuena, and tells his friend that if Valbuena wants to "fix this" he has to contact Benzema and give him his phone number.

The Real Madrid player was charged last Thursday with "complicity in blackmail" and "participation in a criminal conspiracy to commit an offense punishable with at least five years in prison".

Four more people are defendants in the case, the three alleged blackmailers and the friend of Benzema, who was indicted a few hours after the Madrid player.