Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez is courting controversy by declaring Manchester United ace Wayne Rooney a better player than Argentina teammate Lionel Messi.

Tevez has overlooked the more prolific Cristiano Ronaldo and the more mesmeric Messi - having played with both - in favour of street-fighter Rooney, whom he believes has a similar background to his own.

Tevez said: "I've had the honour of playing with some great players.

"At United, I had Cristiano in my team and obviously I have Messi in the national team.

"At Boca Juniors I had striker Martin Palermo for a team-mate - he was very impressive. He was the one who put two goals past Real Madrid in Japan.

"But the one I like the most is Rooney. He has everything. He's very complete.

"Plus we share the same humble origins. Although the humbleness he experienced growing up in Liverpool was obviously a bit more bearable than Fuerte Apache in Argentina, where I grew up."