Two decades on from one of England's most controversial World Cup exits, Wayne Rooney has opened up about the red card that ended his involvement in the 2006 FIFA World Cup quarter-final against Portugal — and the part played by his then-Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Rooney, who was sent off during the tense Gelsenkirchen clash, addressed both the incident itself and the infamous wink that Ronaldo directed at the Portugal bench moments after the dismissal — a moment that inflamed supporters back in England and dominated headlines for years.

Speaking candidly, Rooney admitted that had their roles been reversed, he would have done exactly the same as Ronaldo to get an opponent sent off. The former England striker appeared to harbour no lasting bitterness toward his club colleague over the episode, framing Ronaldo's actions as a natural part of football's competitive theatre.

England were eliminated from the tournament following the quarter-final defeat, a result that still stings for a generation of supporters who believed that squad had the quality to go deep into the competition. Rooney's red card remains one of the defining and most debated moments of that campaign.

The incident marked a turbulent chapter in the relationship between Rooney and Ronaldo — two players who would go on to win the Premier League title together at Manchester United — and raised questions at the time about whether the pair could continue as club team-mates after such a charged international encounter.

Twenty years on, Rooney's reflective tone suggests the episode has long since been put to rest, even if football fans continue to debate whether Ronaldo's intervention was gamesmanship or something more calculated.