Karim Benzema has been charged with a road-safety crime after being caught driving without a licence during a routine stop carried out by the Madrid city police near Barajas Airport.

The Frenchman was unable to produce any documentation showing that he was eligible to drive and so was charged, but not arrested. His car was also initially seized, although the person he was travelling with was eventually allowed to get behind the wheel.

This is not Benzema's first road offence. On 15th March 2013 he was fined €18,000 and had his licence suspended for 18 months for speeding. On that occasion a mobile radar camera clocked him travelling at a reckless speed on the section of the M-40 motorway in Pozuelo de Alarcón, on the outskirts of Madrid.