Autographs: (left-right) Rooney, Andy Carroll, Scott Parker, Ashley Young and Jordan Henderson

Rooney is suspended for the first two games of England’s campaign thanks to the red card he received in Montenegro during qualifying.

‘It’s the price I have to pay for making that mistake,’ he said.

But he says he will be ready for the third group game, against co-hosts Ukraine in Donetsk, and he hopes it will see him form an international strike partnership with his Manchester United team-mate, Danny Welbeck.

‘I will just prepare myself as if I was playing in those games, so that, hopefully, when I’m called up, I will go and produce,’ he said. ‘Hopefully, the lads will win the two games and I’ll come back into a winning team.

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