Summary Real Madrid president Florentino Perez gave Karim Benzema his full support.
MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema received the backing of his club on Thursday, just hours after being charged in connection with a sex tape extortion case.
The 27-year-old was released by French prosecutors earlier in the day in a blackmail case involving a tape featuring fellow French international Mathieu Valbuena.
Despite training alone, Real s president leapt to the defence of the French international.
"Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez, held a meeting with the player in which he gave him his full support and expressed his confidence that his actions were in good faith and that he is completely innocent," said a statement released by the Spanish giants.
"The club values and recognises the professional commitment, the displays of camaraderie with his team-mates and the impeccable attitude he has shown as a core member of the first team squad for the more than six seasons that he has been a part of Real Madrid."
Real said that Benzema, who is still recovering from injury, had trained on his own, jogged and carried out various exercises.
A source in the French criminal investigation said Benzema had admitted approaching Valbuena about the sex tape "on behalf of a childhood friend" who himself had been contacted by blackmailers in possession of the tape, who were seeking to extort money.
But Benzema s lawyer said the player was innocent and "has admitted nothing at all".
Benzema was charged with complicity to blackmail and conspiring to commit a criminal act, the prosecutor s office in Versailles, outside Paris, said.
