French prosecutors on Thursday said they were seeking a 10-month suspended sentence for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema for alleged complicity in an attempt to blackmail former France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena with a sex tape.

Benzema is one of five people on trial over the 2015 extortion attempt, which led to him being dropped from the national team for five-and-a-half years.

The 33-year-old player, who scored for Real in a Champions League match in Ukraine on Tuesday, is not attending the proceedings in Versailles outside Paris.

He has denied the allegations, saying he tried to help Valbuena get out of the situation, not entrap him.

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