Wayne Rooney bestows highest praise on Messi then says he wants to win World Cup, the critter

Lionel > Diego.

That's the view of Wayne Rooney. But, sure, what would he know? He still has genuine aspirations of winning the World Cup. With England. God love him. But the Manchester United skipper paid the highest homage to Lionel Messi when he claimed that the Argentinian legend was even greater than a certain Mr Maradona. In an interview with The Telegraph, Rooney heaped praise on the Barcelona player and said that he is fully aware that many will never hold him in the same esteem. “Up to a couple of years ago, people were saying Messi wasn't Maradona because he hadn't won the World Cup," Wazza said. “In my mind, Messi is a better player than Maradona. But that's how football is. It's about trophies you win. As a team, that's how you're judged. Sir Bobby did that (won the World Cup). Hopefully there's still time for me to be successful like that.” But, even in his wildest World Cup-winning dreams, will Wayne Rooney ever have that same respect? “It's not something I'm too fussed about,” he says. “As long as my managers, my team-mates understand and respect the job I do for them, the day they turn round and say they don't is the day it'll bother me. In terms of what other people think it doesn't really concern me.”