'I would drop him because...': Wayne Rooney's brutal dig at Cristiano Ronaldo with Lionel Messi statement - Watch

Manchester United great Wayne Rooney on Sunday took a fresh swipe at former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo amid their ongoing spat while making a Lionel Messi statement. Rooney's statement came during a show before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup opener, just days after Ronaldo's "rat" jibe at him.

Rooney, during his discussion on the Qatar versus Ecuador opener on Sunday on Indian TV station JioCinema, was asked to play a unique 'Play, Bench, Drop game'. The veteran footballer was given three names - Ronaldo, Messi and Harry Kane - was asked to whom among the three would be start with, bench and drop.

Clarifying that the question was based on the respective players in their current stage of the career, Rooney, without much hesitation, picked Messi as the player would start with. He quickly stated that he would bench the England captain and drop Ronaldo.

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“I would start Messi, bench Kane and drop Ronaldo because he stopped playing for his club,” the former England captain said.

Earlier last week, in the bombshell interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo had lashed out at Rooney for criticising him in the media, saying that it was out of jealousy. The "rat" jibe followed next after Morgan said, "I'm just trying to work out how Wayne Rooney could hate you even more."

Ronaldo answered: "Not only him, imagine the rest of the rats they are going to criticise me too, but it is good to still be the No 1."

Talking about Rooney's question, he backed Kane to overtake him as England’s top scorer.

“He is a goal-scorer. If England goes far in this tournament, it is going to be because of Harry Kane. I hope he scores those goals because England needs them if they have to win,” said Rooney, adding it will be a tough contest against Iran but predicted a 1-0 win for England.

“I hope he does, but I do not think it will be tomorrow (Monday),” said Rooney if Kane could overtake him in the match against Iran tonight.

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