Wayne Rooney has revealed he tried to get Cristiano Ronaldo sent off during the famous World Cup match in which he ended up seeing red thanks to the mischievous antics of his former Manchester United teammate.
Rooney will enter an illustrious club on Saturday when he wins his 100th England cap against Slovenia at Wembley.
The lowest moment of his 11-year international career came in the 2006 World Cup when he was sent off for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.
Ronaldo, then a teammate of Rooney's, played a big part in the red card, rushing over to Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo to plead for the striker's dismissal.
Ronaldo, who famously winked towards the bench after the red card had been issued, scored the winning penalty as Portugal beat England in a shoot-out to reach the semifinals.
Eight years on, Rooney holds no grudge against the Portugal forward. In fact, Rooney says he would have acted in exactly the same way as the Real Madrid star.
"I understood why he did it. He was trying to win for Portugal," the England captain said. "And to be honest I would probably do the same if it was the other way round. I would want to win for England.
"I would have probably (tried to get him sent off), yes," Rooney added, with a smile about Ronaldo, who just set the new mark for career goals in the European Championships in a 1-0 win vs. Armenia.
The England skipper admitted he had earlier pestered the referee in the hope that he would book the Portuguese.
"In the first half I was saying to the referee that he was diving, trying to get him a yellow card," Rooney said. "That happens in football. Players speak to the referees which isn't always highlighted. But that does happen."
Many expected Ronaldo to leave United following the incident, but Rooney selflessly buried the hatchet with the forward for the sake of their club's success.
"I spoke to him straight after the game," Rooney added. "I knew what the media would say -- the two of us had fallen out.
"To be honest, we had to make sure that didn't happen for Manchester United's sake because the tournament for me and England was over. There was never an issue."
Rooney had much soul-searching to do following the sending-off, which came after a period of domination for Sven-Goran Eriksson's team in Gelsenkirchen.
"It was so difficult to watch knowing no matter what happened my tournament was over," Rooney said. "That was a really tough moment and unfortunately we didn't go through and it made it worse for me.
"You start thinking: 'Is it my fault that we didn't go through?'.
"Euro 2004 and the World Cup in 2006, they were great opportunities for us. You never know what is going to happen if you do get into the semi-finals and I felt we were the better team even with 10 men."