A bad week for Gareth Bale – he upsets Cristiano Ronaldo again, and not even birthday wishes from Real Madrid fans can cheer him up

Welshman frustrates his Bernabeu teammate by failing to pass in pre-season friendly, but looks just as annoyed when serenaded by young Madrid supporters

Real Madrid teammates Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo may not be talking for some time (GETTY IMAGES)

After a difficult second season as a Real Madrid player, Gareth Bale has many to win over at the Bernabeu – and if one of those is Cristiano Ronaldo, he’s going the wrong way about it.

Bale suffered the ignominy of boos from his own supporters back in January when, during a home match against Espanyol, he chose to shoot instead of passing to his goal-crazy teammate.

And old habits are proving to die hard if the video footage of Real’s pre-season friendly with Roma in Australia is anything to go by.

During the goalless draw at the MCG, Ronaldo is shown to call repeatedly for the ball while sprinting into the box only to be ignored by Bale. The manner is which the Portuguese star looks exasperatedly to the sky as the attack breaks down is the very essence of a man who has run for a bus and missed it.

The evening did not get much better for Bale, Ronaldo and co. either as Roma prevailed in a penalty shootout at the final whistle in what was Rafa Benitez’s first game in charge of Los Blancos.

But if Bale is struggling to match Ronaldo’s exploits on the pitch, he’s having no trouble replicating his surly demeanour off it.

The Wales forward celebrated his 26th birthday on Thursday, but looked less than impressed when some knowledgeable Madrid fans decided to serenade him with the old favourite “Happy Birthday” as he signed autographs outside the stadium.