Jorge Mendes, the agent of Cristiano Ronaldo, has defended his client after criticism of the staging of a birthday party hours after Real Madrid’s derby defeat.
Pictures and video footage emerged of Ronaldo celebrating the night Madrid were beaten 4-0 by Atletico Madrid, with Ronaldo condemned for partying so soon after such a heavy loss.
But Mendes, speaking during an appearance on El Laguero, attempted to explain the situation around the festivities and took issue with the complaints.
“Cristiano was very angry, shattered by the situation,” Mendes began, AS reports.
“He remains the most professional player in the world, the most professional ever. He said he wasn’t going to stay very long but there were 40 children at the party and he had to go [to see them].
“Cristiano didn’t want the party on February 5 [the date of his birthday] because he couldn’t have it then. He wanted to respect the people who came.
“It was also his niece’s birthday. Imagine if nothing had been arranged? He was very angry about the defeat.”
Ronaldo was at one point filmed singing with Colombian performer Kevin Roldan and Mendes expressed anger at whoever leaked the footage and the images.
“It’s unacceptable for anyone to take advantage of the situation. You have no right to filter the images,” he insisted.
“I haven’t talked to anyone. I don’t know them but one thing you can’t do is make public private images. People spent two hours encouraging Cristiano.
“We chose a place just for dinner because we couldn’t have his whole family at his house. And his friends.
“When you have something completely private and you have a situation where there’s someone filtering images, you are angry. You stay angry.”
