With the World Cup round the corner, Wayne Rooney attacked Cristiano Ronaldo saying he is motivated solely by personal glory. He clamed Ronaldo is obsessed with his own achievements.
Ronaldo ripped off his Real Madrid shirt and posed for the cameras after scoring in the Champions League final victory last month.
Rooney, who played with Ronaldo between 2004 and 2009, said: ‘I'm not a player who needs a legacy – like Cristiano, he has to have that. I'm more about winning as a team. He wants to have his moments. I've won player of the year, it's nowhere near as good as winning a trophy with United.'
‘If I'm being honest, when you play a high tempo they have struggled,' he added. ‘The Italian league is nowhere near the tempo of the Premier League. Even when we played AC Milan, with Nesta and Maldini as centre halves, they really struggled when we played a high tempo. If we can do that we can give them problems.'
Rooney has convinced himself that this England team is better than the ‘golden generation' who reached the quarter-final in 2006 or the decrepit 2010 team beaten 4-1 by Germany in Bloemfontein.
‘The Italian players should be looking at us and how they can control our team,' he added. ‘We're not really too focused on Pirlo.
‘He has been a fantastic player and Italy have some great players, but so have we.
‘They should be more worried about our team. It is exciting and the young players bring a lot of energy and excitement. You can see with Ross Barkley and Raheem Sterling that there's no fear with them. They'll be good players, big players for us.
‘This is probably the best squad of players I've been involved with since I've been with England.'
Rooney has done so much in his career, winning five Premier League titles and the Champions League with Manchester United.
Incredibly, he has yet to score at a World Cup.
‘If you look at my record in the World Cup qualifiers I had a pretty good record (seven goals).
‘That's what I have to do at the World Cup. I want to score goals and help England be successful, but I honestly feel better than I have done for years.
‘I'm ready for this tournament and I know if I play my game I will do well.'
Doing well here means supplying goals and scoring them as England negotiate a tricky group involving Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica.
Although Rooney is yet to get off the mark at a World Cup, he is one goal behind equalling Michael Owen (40 goals) and 10 behind the great Sir Bobby Charlton in an England shirt.
