I have always been confident that I would make it to the top.

[Wayne Rooney] has to be viewed as a great England striker if he breaks Sir Bobby Charlton's record. Scoring goals at international level is much more difficult than it was a few years back because even the lesser teams are well organised and don't concede too many goals these days.

I don't want to be modelling G-strings. It's not that good for my image – I'm a footballer not a tart

Often the biggest test is when the chips are down and you've got to stick together as a team.

I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of sitting there for an hour and a half watching a game like we saw between Ireland and England last Sunday.

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.

I can't believe anyone can have played the game of football as well as Messi.