'Cutting Ronaldo's hair doesn't feel real'

Cal Newsome is used to cutting the hair of Premier League footballers.

For the owner of Bull & Co Barbershop in Bridgnorth, its proximity to Wolverhampton Wanderers meant he began cutting some of its players' hair in 2019.

But as a lifelong Manchester United fan, he has now had a career opportunity that he said could not be topped - cutting Cristiano Ronaldo's hair for the UEFA World Cup Qualifiers on 13 November.

"It still doesn't feel that real, it didn't feel like it happened, it was such a whirlwind 24 hours," the 34 year-old told the BBC.

There has been an invisible string between Cal and Ronaldo for many years.

When cutting hair for the Wolves players, he said he formed a connection to many of the Portuguese players there.

This then led to him taking on United's Diogo Dalot, who is also Portugese, as a client, and being stationed at Old Trafford's new barbershop each week.

Ronaldo captained Portugal against Ireland

"I've built quite a good relationship with most of the players, and Dalot in particular," he said.

"He knows… how much I love Ronaldo."

The players were on international break, and Cal recieved a text from Dalot.

"He texted me to say: 'Do you want to come over to Ireland and cut me and Cristiano for the game against Ireland?'"

The game was the next day.

"I dropped all my plans, went over there, went to the hotel and cut both their hair and then I stayed in the hotel and flew back the next day," he said.

'He asked my opinion on his hair'

He described Ronaldo as down-to-earth and cool.

"We spoke about everything other than football to be honest… I didn't even divulge that I was a Man United fan… they don't like talking about football all the time," he said.

"When they're getting their hair cut, it's almost like a safe space away from football.

"We just spoke about family life, he was asking about my family, we talked a lot about his life in Saudi and how different culturally it is to Europe."

As for the cut itself, he said Ronaldo, who plays his club football in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr, was not sure about how to style his hair.

"He asked my opinion whether or not he should buzz it again, go short," Cal said.

"I basically said, yeah, I thought it was really cool."

Cal said the cut was a career highlight, and the only other person he would also get star-struck around would be David Beckham.

He now has more big ambitions after hitting this milestone, which he said he felt he had always been working towards.

"Hopefully one day I'll be cutting in Hollywood," he said.