Benzema arrested over sex-tape blackmail – what is it all about?

Real Madrid star Karim Benzema has been arrested by French police investigating a blackmail attempt against former Marseille defender Mathieu Valbuena, who now plays for Lyon.

The 27-year-old, who was close to joining Arsenal last summer, was "taken into custody" this morning according to French newspaper Le Parisien.

Benzema is not the first footballer to be caught up in the bizarre scandal. Last month former Liverpool player Djibril Cisse was also questioned by police but later released without charge. At the time he was said to be one of four people under investigation from French police.

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What does the case involve?

According to reports in France, the extortion scam began in the summer, after a man with connections to Valbuena's former club, Olympique Marseille, came into possession of an old mobile phone that once belonged to Valbuena. It reportedly contained "an intimate video [of the] player with a young woman", says Le Parisien.

Police have said they are not sure if the video actually exists, but the player was contacted while training with the France national squad and told to pay the blackmailers €150,000 or the footage would be uploaded to the internet.

It was then that the police were called.

How are Cisse and Benzema involved?

Cisse experienced similar extortion threats in 2008 and reportedly paid off a blackmailer, who was later arrested for shoplifting, reports ESPN.

In October he was questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to blackmail in relation to the Valbuena case but was released without charge. Valbuena later posted a message on his Facebook page stating that Cisse had "behaved like a friend, trying to help me".

Benzema was mentioned in relation to the case by the French press around the time of Cisse's arrest, with Le Parisien reporting that his name appeared "peripherally" in wiretaps conducted as part of the probe.

The paper has subsequently reported that Benzema and Valbuena discussed the case while on France duty before the final round of Euro 2016 qualifying matches. According to Le Parisien he advised Valbuena to pay the money.

There have been different reports of the conversation, with one version suggesting that Benzema put pressure on Valbuena to pay, while another suggests that he advised him to cough up so he could put the whole incident behind him.