Hamburg - Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has expressed concern about the outcome of a sex affair involving their star winger Franck Ribery, the Bild daily reported on Thursday.
The report said that Rummenigge fears that the scandalous surroundings of France's first round exit at the World Cup could have a negative impact and that Ribery could be made a scapegoat.
"I believe this is a politically motivated issue because of the bad showing of the French team at the World Cup. Ribery is to be made a scapegoat," Rummenigge told Bild.
"We are very concerned about the outcome of the affair."
The Bundesliga champions Munich have been loyal to Ribery and renewed his contract until 2015 in May, when he was already linked with the affair.
Ribery, 27, and Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, were placed under investigation on Tuesday over an investigation into a suspected prostitution ring operating from a Paris night club.
Police stepped in after receiving statements by a self-styled professional escort, Zahia D., who had told police that Ribery and Benzema had paid for sex with her when she was a minor.
She was 16 in 2008 when she allegedly had relations with Benzema, and 17 when she supposedly flew to Munich to spend a night with Ribery the following year.
Zahia D. has repeatedly said that the two players did not know that she was a minor at the time.
In French law, to be placed under investigation is a step preliminary to being charged with a crime, and sex with an under-age prostitute is punishable by up to three years in prison and a hefty fine.
Ribery was part of the French team which went out winless in the World Cup group stage in South Africa last month. Striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home for insulting then coach Raymond Domenech and the players went on strike over Anelka's exclusion.
The off-pitch incidents caused a huge stir in France and some believe that Ribery is now paying the price for being part of the World Cup squad via his involvement in the sex affair.
French football fans and the likely new French football supremo Fernand Duchaussoy have voiced their scepticism whether Ribery (and Benzema) should ever wear the France shirt again. - Sapa-dpa