Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney admits the Brazilian national team has proven world-class stars and spoken of his admiration for the Samba style.

Rooney, who will take on Brazil for the first time when England meets them in a friendly in Qatar on the weekend, is looking forward to taking on the best players in the world and understands that performing well against brilliant players will help him go on to be considered a world-class player.

"Obviously, I'm happy when people say I play like a Brazilian because I love the way Brazilians play, but there are other players who are a lot more skilful than me in the England team - like Joe Cole, for example," Rooney said.

"When I think of Brazil, it's players like Romario and Ronaldo, who could do incredible things.

"The players they've had are unbelievable at times and playing against them is something I've always wanted to do. I wouldn't say they were heroes, although I enjoy watching them.

"They're world-class players, they've proven that and won World Cups and massive trophies. There's still a lot I need to win before I can catch up to those players.

"And if you want to be known and remembered in world football as a great, you need to be a World Cup winner.

"Of course you can be considered world-class without winning the World Cup. You only have to think about players like George Best, Johan Cruyff and Cristiano Ronaldo who were and are geniuses.

"But if I want to be compared to those Brazilian players, I need to win a World Cup."