Scholes upsets Rooney

Rooney in action for England recently. The Manchester United striker has claimed he doesn’t have former teammate Scholes’ phone contact. AGENCIES PHOTO

What you need to know:

Scholes suggested the Rooney’s best days may be behind him, and questioned whether Roy Hodgson had the “balls” to drop him – has been away too long to have a valid opinion.

After 22 minutes and 30 seconds of pure gold in front of a microphone from Wayne Rooney, the England striker stood up to deliver one final line.

‘I’m sure you’ll all have your own views as to what to make of that,’ he declared after a bravura performance in front of the assembled media. It is the last we will hear from Rooney before he steps out in the Arena da Amazonia tomorrow morning wearing the No 10 shirt of England.
He spoke with utter conviction. ‘I am going to enjoy this tournament because I haven’t enjoyed the last ones,’ he admitted. ‘I’m going to take positive memories.’ It all came tumbling out, just like it did when he visited England’s team psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters. ‘Yes, I’ve been to see him a few times,’ he added.

There was no holding back, which is just the way we like it from the man who can turn a game with a swivel of his hips or a ping off that Nike boot. Rooney warmed up by putting away Paul Scholes with a feisty attack, hinting at jealousy after he signed a new five-year contract worth £250,000 a week at Old Trafford. By the end, Rooney was at full throttle.

‘He’s been a great player at Manchester United, but I’ve never had his phone number and he’s never had mine,’ revealed Rooney. Tasty stuff.

‘I’m sure he has upset a lot of people at Man United because they see me worthy of signing a new deal at the club, so obviously they have got a different opinion to what Paul has. The criticism was a bit strange, but he has his opinions and he’s entitled to them. It was very, very strange, but I’m sure he has his reasons.

‘I don’t agree with them, but he’s probably the best player I’ve ever played with so I’m not going to knock him as a player.’ Next up were the Italians. Rooney has played against the great catenaccio defences in the past for club and country, and is convinced that there is nothing to fear from Juventus pairing Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.

‘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.’

That was an extraordinary claim, particularly with so little expectation around this group of players, but at least Rooney believed what he was saying.

He was giving the world what they wanted to hear ahead of the highly-anticipated Group D clash due tomorrow morning.

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