Exclusive – Carragher: ‘I’d love Rooney to silence the critics’

Jamie Carragher has backed Wayne Rooney to silence his critics and fire England to success at Wembley tonight.

The Three Lions begin their Euro 2012 qualification campaign against Bulgaria looking to put the disappointment of the World Cup behind them.

Star names like Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard came in for widespread criticism following their failure in South Africa, but Carragher has no doubts they will bounce back in style - with the Manchester United strike star leading the way.

The Liverpool ace told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast: "Everyone would love to see Rooney get a goal and silence the critics. I know what a character he is and he’ll be wanting to shut a few people up.

"At his best he is unplayable and I can testify to that from facing him in the Premier League.

"He went into the World Cup rightly hailed as one of the world’s best players and everyone was expecting him to take the tournament by storm like Maradona in '86.

"When it didn’t happen it’s always the big players who get the criticism. But people like Stevie Gerrard, John Terry and Frank Lampard have been England’s top players for the last 10 years."