That is the question exercising France's football scribblers. And most think he is finished.

Once upon a time it would have been all about an injury, or a sudden loss of form, or some tragic personal circumstance.

But this is French Football 2015. The issue is rather more sordid.

Grave crisis

Incredible though it sounds, it is whether Karim Benzema helped blackmail a fellow French national team-mate over a sexual escapade caught on phone-cam.

The Real Madrid star has denied wrongdoing, telling police he merely advised Mathieu Valbuena about what to do in a difficult situation.

But investigators believe it is more serious than that, and Karim Benzema faces possible charges of "complicity in a blackmail attempt".

More damagingly, phone transcripts have now been leaked to the press which cast heavy doubt on the official Benzema version.

All in all, the affair has plunged French football into another grave crisis - just as it was emerging from the disastrous repercussions of South Africa 2010.

That was when the team went on strike during training, and crashed out of the World Cup in disgrace.

Once again popular anger is being turned on players apparently more interested in money and disreputable friendships than in loyalty to the flag.

And once again, the team's chances on the field look like being gravely compromised.

The story began earlier this year when the Olympique Lyonnais and France midfielder Mathieu Valbuena learned that a sex video featuring himself and a woman had been purloined from his mobile phone.

The person responsible was allegedly Axel Angot, described in the French press as a kind of Mr Fixit for super-rich footballers. He and two others, named as Mustapha Z. and Younes H., allegedly tried to extort unspecified favours from Valbuena.

However Valbuena refused to play ball and went to the police, who placed the three suspects under phone taps.

At this point, it is alleged the three tried another tactic. Karim Zenati was approached - an old mucker of Karim Benzema's and a man with convictions for armed theft and drug dealing. He agreed to use his friendship with the Real Madrid star to try to get the message through to Mathieu Valbuena.

And that is how - during training at the national side's camp at Clairefontaine on October 5 - the two stars had the conversation which is key to the case against Karim Benzema.

Leaked phone transcripts

The transcripts leaked by police to Europe 1 radio are of a phone call carried out on October 6 between Karim Benzema and Karim Zenati. In it the player describes what happened when he spoke to Mathieu Valbuena the day before.

Initially, he says, Mathieu Valbuena did not take him seriously. But Karim Benzema goes on:

"I said to him: 'I'm going to sort it out for you. You got to go see the guy. He'll come. He'll talk to you. I give you my word there's no other copy.'"

Later Karim Benzema tells Karim Zenati:

"I said (to Valbuena): 'If you want the video to be destroyed, my friend comes up to see you in Lyon and you sort it out face to face with him.'"

At one point Karim Benzema describes how Mathieu Valbuena asked him if his "tattoos" are visible in the video.

"I told him 'you can see everything'." But he later admits to Karim Zenati he has not actually seen the video.

The reference to tattoos is unclear. It could be that they are on an intimate part of the body, or that Mathieu Valbuena fears they clearly identify him in the sex-tape.

Karim Benzema goes on:

"I said (to Valbuena): 'My role stops here. Now it's my friend who takes over. He's the one who knows the person with the video. Me, I don't know him. So now if you want to sort this out, give me your number. I'll pass it on and you sort it out with him.'"

According to Europe 1, the tone of the conversation between Benzema and Zenati suggests for them it is all a hilarious prank.

The law will have to decide whether this amounts to evidence of complicity to blackmail.

Karim Benzema's brief has already cried foul, saying the leak was "selective" and left out parts that might exculpate his client.

The defence team will no doubt point out that no actual demand was ever mentioned in the conversation; and there will also be argument over whether passing on a blackmail message constitutes providing help.

'It's over'

But the immediate question is where this leaves Karim Benzema - and Mathieu Valbuena - in relation to the national squad. And here, there are grave doubts indeed.

"I find it hard to see how Benzema can make it to Euro 16," says Vincent Deluc of L'Equipe newspaper.

He says that though national coach Didier Deschamps has publicly stuck by his striker - saying he is innocent until proven otherwise - the Real Madrid player's plummeting reputation will prove too much.

The case risks dragging on for months or even years, and since South Africa the French football authorities are committed to building up a cleaner image for the game.

Karim Benzema is already connected to a previous squalid affair, in which footballers had sex with an under-age call-girl. He was found innocent after successfully arguing he could not have known her age.

"And I am afraid Valbuena will be collateral damage," continues Deluc. "Can you imagine if Deschamps excludes Benzema but keeps Valbuena?

"The atmosphere in the dressing-room will be appalling - with some of the players blaming Valbuena for the exclusion of their top scorer. Totally unfair on Valbuena, who's an innocent party in all this, but that's the reality."

 

(BBC)