For me there's nothing better than putting the white shirt on for England and playing for England. I'd get worried if it wasn't like that.

I remember running around the park as a kid and pretending, shouting out 'Michael Owen in the cup final. He scores!' To actually fulfil that dream when you're older and score two goals made it just a magical day.

When you put better teams in front of you, that's when the big players rise to that occasion.

It bothers me when I don't score.

While the World Cup is great every four years, I think people struggle to get themselves excited about qualifiers against the smaller nations. It will take some good performances from the national team to get the feel-good factor back, as far as the England team goes at least.

It was a real eye opener and I'm really pleased that I spent a year out there [in Real Madrid].

I thought I would break the scoring record when I got to 40 goals by the age of 27 or 28, but then Fabio Capello took over and he never picked me again.