I want to play like Messi: Rooney

Manchester: 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.

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.

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.

"I think you have to put it behind you. I still think it was a great achievement by us to get to the final. Obviously you want to win, but they were better than us so you have to hold your hands up to that.

"It’s always disappointing when you lose in any competition. We just want to do our best this season, try to retain the title and go that one step further in the Champions League."

Rooney struck his lowest season goal tally since joining Manchester United last term but the emergence of strike partner Javier Hernandez was a positive for the England international.

"Javier is a young lad, he’s done really well and he’s been playing all summer so he needs a bit of a rest and it will take some time before he gets back into it," he continued.

"The really good thing is that we have such great competition for the two places up front, or sometimes only one place. We all have to make sure we really work hard if we want that place."