Brighton centre-back Lewis Dunk has admitted that he made it his mission to keep Cristiano Ronaldo at bay ahead of Saturday's 4-0 win over Manchester United at the Amex Stadium.
The Seagulls — who were without a win on their own patch since Boxing Day — cruised to a first home win of 2022, making mincemeat of a lifeless and dejected United side. Moises Caicedo handed them a half-time lead before three goals in the space of 11 second-half minutes put them 4-0 up by the hour mark.
Marc Cucurella, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard all got in on the act in the opening 15 minutes of the second-half to inflict a fifth successive away defeat on Ralf Rangnick's side. United were second-best from the first whistle and rarely threatened Robert Sanchez in the Brighton goal.
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But despite not having to do an awful lot of defending, Seagulls captain Dunk could not hide his delight at keeping Ronaldo off the scoresheet. The Portuguese superstar scored against Graham Potter's side at Old Trafford back in February and Dunk was determined to stop him this time around.
"He's [Ronaldo] one of the greatest ever to play the game," admitted Dunk. "It's a challenge you relish before the game.
"You know you're in for a tough game. At their place, he scored and I didn't want to let him score today. Thankfully, as a team, we didn't let them score. It's nice to challenge yourself against the best players.
"I think we dominated throughout the game. We've been waiting for one of these games to come all season. We showed what we were about."
On the victory itself, Dunk added: "It is a special day. [Man United] are a top side and we've let our home fans down this season, so it was a nice moment.
"Away from home, our form has been excellent, home form not so good. It has held us back in the league. They've had to watch some not-so-good performances but you can hear they enjoyed that one.
"We waited for it to come together; there were a few moments when I was still shouting. I'm happy, but never too happy."
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