Dael Fry has admitted that he ‘didn’t dare look at Cristiano Ronaldo’ during Middlesbrough’s FA Cup win at Manchester United – and claims the 37-year-old is ‘so beautiful in real life’.
The centre-back played all 120 minutes in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, before scoring his penalty shootout effort as Chris Wilder’s men went on to produce a stunning fourth-round upset to move into the last-16 of the tournament.
Fry spent most of the evening trying to mark the Portuguese forward and successfully stopped the United star from scoring – but has revealed he was starstruck in Ronaldo’s presence.
Middlesbrough’s Dael Fry (left) says couldn’t look at Cristiano Ronaldo (right) on Friday night
Fry (left) was tasked with marking Ronaldo (right) for all of Boro’s FA Cup win at Man United
‘I didn’t say anything to him,’ he told BBC Sport Tees when asked about playing against Ronaldo. ‘I didn’t dare look at him to be honest.
‘But when I did, I said: ‘he looks fake, he’s so beautiful in real life’. I was like: ‘Wow.”
Fry was even starstruck before the Old Trafford clash and was curious about whether Ronaldo would have a conversation with him.
‘I’ve thought about it quite a lot, to be honest,’ Fry claimed before FA Cup clash. ‘I’ve thought about just kind of being stood near him and going, “Alright mate,” and see what he says.’
Ronaldo (left) missed a first-half penalty which would have likely sent United on to victory
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Ronaldo had a frustrating night on Friday as United blew arguably their best chance of winning silverware this season by failing to get past the Championship side in round four.
The Portuguese forward had a golden chance to open the scoring in the first-half but missed a penalty wide of Joe Lumley’s goal.
Jadon Sancho then gave Ralf Rangnick’s a first-half lead but Middlesbrough found a way back into the game in controversial circumstances.
Substitute Duncan Watmore appeared to control a ball forwards with his hand on the counter-attack before squaring to Matt Crooks, who equalised for the second tier club.
Fry (right) scored in the penalty shootout which Middlesbrough won to move into round five
The scores remained the same right up until the penalty shootout and while both Fru and Ronaldo both scored their efforts, young United forward Anthony Elanga did not.
The 19-year-old fired his sudden death spot kick straight over the bar and into the Stretford End to send United crashing out and spark wild Middlesbrough celebrations.
United’s only chance of winning a trophy this season now lies in their Champions League knockout campaign starting this month, while Middlesbrough move onto round five where they will host Antonio Conte’s Tottenham.