Manchester United ace Wayne Rooney accepts he'll always be booed by opposition fans.

"We were speaking about this just the other day," said Rooney with a smile. "Everywhere we go I always seem to get booed. Getting off the coach, running on to the pitch, during the game.

"I don't really know why it happens but there's no problem. I'm not really too interested if the opposing fans like me or not as long as my own fans like me. That's all I care about."

Rooney may profess not to care but it's an odd concept all the same. England's best player gets booed and abused by those same supporters who demand so much from him when he plays for his country. Maybe it's a United thing. Maybe it's part of the price you pay for being successful. Maybe it's envy. Rooney has his own theory.

"I think it's probably the way I play," he said. "I like to put tackles in and if you put in a tackle that's not quite right on the opposing ground they don't seem to like it and they rightly boo. So that's no problem to me.

"The main thing is that I consider myself to be honest. You don't want to be known as a cheat. I do sometimes give free-kicks away and I sometimes argue with referees but that's just my desire and my attitude towards the game. I don't like to lose."

On tonight's Champions League final, Rooney added: "Opportunities like this don't come around very often so I think you have to make the most of them,' he said. 'We may never get here again. You always get recognised as a better player if you play well in the Champions League Final.

"This is a great opportunity to show the world what I can really do."