Manchester United star Wayne Rooney would have no problem having former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo sent-off in this year's World Cup.

The Manchester United and England striker carries the disappointment of that 2006 World Cup night in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, when Old Trafford team-mate Ronaldo winked at the Portugal bench after Rooney was sent off for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.

United's in-form striker revealed he would do the same to Ronaldo if England's World Cup dream was at stake in South Africa.

Rooney said: "Cristiano is rightly the World Player of the Year and, in my eyes, is still the best in the world.

"I'd do anything I could to try to get him off that pitch, and I understand why he did it to me.

"I spoke to him after the game. I knew what was coming and what was going to happen in the press. I said: 'Just make sure you get your head right.'

"It was an important year for United and I didn't want that to ruin our chances of challenging that year and it didn't.

"From that night onwards we had no problems and we're still pals. We still speak regularly on the phone and he was a brilliant player for United."