Casillas and Ramos ‘unhappy’ with Ronaldo’s birthday bash

Following his derby defeat to Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo went ahead with plans for a 30th birthday party. While the Ballon d’Or winner is entitled to do as he pleases in his personal life, the timing and publicity of the birthday bash has not impressed some of his teammates.

Just hours after Real Madrid’s 4-0 defeat at the Vicente Calderon, photos of Ronaldo’s birthday celebration began making their way around social media – with a video of the Portuguese forward singing on stage also going viral.

Images surfaced of a smiling Ronaldo accompanied by the likes of Sami Khedira, Keylor Navas, Marcelo and James. While Marcelo and James were not involved in the match against Atletico (due to injury), questions are being asked of the individuals who chose to attend the birthday bash – including the party’s host.

According to the Spanish publication Marca, team captain Iker Casillas and vice-captain Sergio Ramos were not impressed with Ronaldo’s decision to carry on with the event. The veteran players were invited to the party but decided against attending the festivities following the thrashing at the Calderon.

It’s understood that club officials, as well as the player’s entourage and representatives, asked Ronaldo to cancel the celebration following Real Madrid’s emphatic defeat in the derby. But the forward elected to go ahead with the party as planned.

While members of the team and coaching staff were in attendance, the general feeling among the remaining players in the squad was that the event was inappropriate, and some are demanding an explanation.

This latest development comes at a particularly bad time for the club. Real Madrid have been dealing with the loss of influential players to injury, unrest in its locker room and lackluster performances. It will be interesting to see what the fallout from Ronaldo’s birthday party will be in the coming days.