Mathieu Valbuena seems to have turned the page, but the sex tape affair continues to leave its mark. In 2015, the French attacking midfielder found himself at the heart of a scandal after an exchange with Karim Benzema about an intimate video concerning him. The affair broke out a few days later, abruptly ending his career with the French team. Almost ten years after the events, Valbuena remains convinced that this episode cost him his participation in Euro 2016.
“The affair grew and my contacts with Deschamps faded. I spoke to him on the phone before the announcement of the 23 for Euro 2016. He told me that he was not taking me for sporting reasons”he confided to the microphone of
RMCin Jérôme Rothen's show. Despite everything, the former Marseillais refused to charge Benzema, implicated at the time for his alleged relationships with blackmailers.
“I don’t hold grudges, I don’t wish harm on anyone. I want him to be happy in his family life and in football. I know what happened. It’s certain that we won’t go on vacation together.”added Valbuena, calm but lucid about a definitively broken relationship with the Al-Ittihad player.
“I haven’t forgotten”
But this affair did not only concern the two former internationals. Djibril Cissé, also unwillingly involved in the investigation, was indicted for having warned Valbuena of the existence of the video, before being cleared. A decade later, the former OM striker has still not digested this episode.
In response to Valbuena's comments, Cissé posted a curt message on X: “And for putting me in your shit for years, don’t you regret?” Because I haven't forgotten. » An outing which revives a file that many thought closed.
