I was good mates with Steven Gerrard but I wanted to absolutely smash him
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Wayne Rooney has revealed that he wanted "smash" Steven Gerrard every time he played for Manchester United against Liverpool.
Rooney and Gerrard were "good mates off the pitch" but went up against each other on a regular basis when United and Liverpool locked horns.
Indeed, Rooney, who started his career at Everton before signing and then becoming a club legend at United, played against Liverpool on 30 different occasions during his career.
In that time, he won 13 and drew eight of those matches, scoring seven goals, providing four assists, receiving six yellow cards.
When going up against the Reds, Rooney and Gerrard often had many a battle.
The pair got involved in some meaty challenges, fiery exchanges and neither were afraid to leave one on each other.
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In fact, ahead of Saturday's Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield, Rooney has opened up on his desire to let Gerrard feel his presence when they played against one another.
"We were good mates off the pitch and whenever I got a chance I'm thinking, 'I'm going to absolutely smash you', and I did.
He did the same to me," Rooney said on his BBC podcast The Wayne Rooney Show.
"You wouldn't talk to him before the game and then after the game you shake each other's hand.
"If there was ever a chance he knew [I'd challenge him], and I knew if he got a chance he was going to do me, so that's what football is.
If you get an opportunity, you can't let that slip, you've got to take it."
Jamie Carragher, like Gerrard, was another of Rooney's England teammates that he used to love coming up against when United entertained Liverpool.