Wayne Rooney has delivered his verdict on Cristiano Ronaldo and how his Portugal players view him following their World Cup exit at the hands of Spain

Wayne Rooney has brutally claimed the Portugal players don't enjoy playing with Cristiano Ronaldo in the same way the Argentina squad do with Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo's World Cup career came to a crushing end as his Portugal side were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the round of 16 on Monday. Mikel Merino's 91st minute winner proved to be the difference at the Dallas Stadium.

The five-time Balon d'Or winner started all five of Portugal's World Cup matches in North America, scoring three goals. Ronaldo, 41, netted twice in a 5-0 drubbing over Uzbekistan during the group stages before dispatching a penalty in the Round of 16 win against Croatia.

But Ronaldo has been outshone by Messi, 39, who has scored seven goals in four games, and is leading the race for the Golden Boot alongside France's Kylian Mbappe and Norway's Erling Haaland. Messi is Argentina's main man and is indispensable to them, but Rooney, who played alongside Ronaldo at Manchester United for six years, doesn't get the same impression when it comes to the Real Madrid legend and Portugal.

Rooney, who has been working for the BBC during the World Cup, said: "You always put Ronaldo and Messi together because they are two of the best players the game has ever seen.

"But the Argentinian lads seem like they're all there for Messi. They're all behind him. Messi has obviously been fantastic at this World Cup. I don’t get that vibe from the Portuguese players."

Ronaldo announced before the game against Spain that this would be his final World Cup. The 1985-born superstar has featured in the last six tournaments, scoring 11 goals in 27 appearances. "Let this be my last World Cup; it is my last World Cup, and I hope tomorrow won't be my last match," Ronaldo said.

He had earlier refused to confirm the tournament would be his last, even though he will be 45 when the next World Cup will be played in Portugal, Spain and Morocco in 2030.

"I will finish when I choose. You always ask the same question: is this the last one? We will see. I don't want to draw attention to this, the most important thing is to play well tomorrow," he said in his pre-match press conference on Sunday. "I'm going to be perfectly honest, regardless of what happens tomorrow, Cristiano is going ⁠to be 1,000 per cent leaving with a clear conscience.

"I have given ⁠all I could to football, it's my passion to play for so many years. I didn't do it out of need, I'm doing well out of life. It's about passion. I ‌play for the national team and I love to play football.

"Regardless of what happens tomorrow I'm not going to exert pressure on myself that I must win. You have to enjoy every match at a huge competition like the World Cup. I think I'm not ‌doing so bad. I've scored three goals, others have done better but I think I'm doing not so bad."

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