Wayne Rooney has admitted he was wrong to mouth '12 men' to a TV camera in Manchester United's defeat to Chelsea.

And in a frank interview ahead of the friendly with Brazil in Qatar on Saturday, Rooney also claimed he cannot be regarded as a truly great player until England win the World Cup.

United still dispute the free-kick awarded against Darren Fletcher for a foul on Ashley Cole when replays showed he played the ball.

Didier Drogba then tussled with Wes Brown as the pair tried to reach a Frank Lampard corner that John Terry flicked into the bottom corner.

Rooney has done a lot to curb the excesses of his temper but the sight of a TV camera as he made his way off the pitch was too much temptation.

"I probably should not have said it," he said. "I was disappointed at the end of the game and felt we deserved more out of it. Your emotions are high at the end."

At least it could have been worse. He could have launched into the type of rant Drogba gave vent to following Chelsea's elimination from the Champions League semi-finals last year.

"I felt we didn't get the decisions but that is the way it goes," Rooney added.

"It was probably our best performance of the season but it was a disappointing result."

With that issue cleared up, Rooney moved on to this weekend's game, the first time he will have faced Brazil, the team history regards as the most glamorous and without question the most popular.

Everyone has their own favourites, generally from the era they first started to watch what Pele declared "the beautiful game".

In Rooney's case that means Romario and Ronaldo. Both brilliant. Both World Cup winners. The stamp of class he feels is required to gain the tag "great".

"There are players like George Best and (Cristiano) Ronaldo who are geniuses," he said.

"But if you want to be compared to players like Romario and Ronaldo and be up there with them, I feel you have to win a World Cup.

"Ronaldo was one of the best, if not the best, forward ever. When he was at Barcelona, the things he did were incredible.

"In later years, Ronaldinho and Kaka were both world player of the year.

"For me to be considered among that group of players, I must win the World Cup with England."

Rooney is very much like Ronaldo in the way he goes about his task and the strength he can use to bulldoze opposition defenders away from the ball.

But Rooney feels Joe Cole is much closer than he is to the style of a Brazilian player.

"Obviously, I am happy when people say I play like a Brazilian because I love the way Brazilians play, but there are other players in the England team who are a lot more skilful than me; Joe Cole, for example," he said.

"I know Ronaldo was powerful, strong and tough but he was also skilful as well.

"The time he went clean through, did four stepovers and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, that was one of the best goals I have ever seen.

"I never really try skills but when you see Joe Cole, he is more skilful than me."