The former French player criticized the attitude of the president of the FFF, Noël Le Graët, for remaining “disappeared” during the trial.
French midfielder Mathieu Valbuena said on Wednesday that he is satisfied with the verdict issued on the blackmail he suffered with a video with sexual content, but complained about the lack of support that, according to him, he has received from the presidency of the French Football Federation (FFF).
“I was very surprised, although nothing surprises me in this environment, the little support from the French team. (…) I have not received any support. It is a pity, because I am a victim of all this, ”he said on the radio station RMC Sport.
The Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was sentenced this Wednesday to one year in prison exempt from compliance for complicity in that blackmail that took place in 2015 and that it was orchestrated by four individuals that swarmed in the environment of the players.
It was the lightest penalty, since Benzema was the only one on whom only the accusation of complicity weighed, but also the one that was accompanied by a higher fine, of 75,000 euros, given his economic solvency in contrast to that of the rest of the doomed.
You must also compensate Valbuena with 80,000 euros, to whom the court recognized high non-pecuniary damage, since that case personally affected, in relationships with his wife, and professionallysince he never dressed again the Bleu of the selection.
Valbuena thanked that justice had recognized him as a victim and was especially critical of the attitude of the president of the FFF, Noël Le Graët, at this time: “Maybe he has lost my number,” he ironically about the leader, whom he nicknamed “Mr. Ghost” for being ‘disappeared’.
The player did not want to rule on whether the sentence should affect Benzema’s presence in the national team.
“The French team needs its best players today. I have never mixed this case and the football aspect with Karim Benzema. I am no one to say whether he should be selected or not. (…) I don’t allow myself to judge what (the coach, Didier Deschamps) should do or not do ”, he concluded. (D)
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