Want to be as good as Messi, says Rooney

man utd's rooney keen to emulate barcelona ace in the coming season

Man Utd's Rooney keen to emulate Barcelona ace in the coming season

Wayne Rooney has praised Lionel Messi and says he wants to be as good a player for Manchester United as the Argentine is for Barcelona.


Barcelona's Lionel Messi scores a goal during a La Liga match earlier
this year. Pic/Getty Images

The Catalans defeated the Red Devils in last season's Champions League final and the diminutive attacker bagged the second goal that night to effectively seal the trophy for Pep Guardiola's side.


Wayne Rooney

Rooney told The Mirror: "Messi is a great player and rightly World Player of the Year. I think, not just for me, but for every footballer out there, that's the target you want to try to get to and hopefully I can do that.
"Barcelona have their style of play and we play differently -- not everyone can play the way they do. They have their identity and we have our own."

Reflecting on the Champions League final, Rooney added: "Full credit to them, they were a much better team than us on the day and deserved the win, but we're looking forward to the new season now, trying to put that behind us and concentrating on what's ahead."