Manchester United Wayne Rooney striker has jestingly admitted to wanting hair like England team mate and Liverpool striker Andy Carroll.

Rooney headed home the winner, in his first appearance at the 2012 European Championships, in England's final group stage game - a 1-0 win over co-hosts Ukraine. The win confirmed England's place in the last eight and a quarterfinal meeting with 2006 World Champions Italy.

Rooney, after scoring the goal, mimicked applying hairspray and later explained he made a pre-match deal with Carroll.

"I used a bit of Andy Carroll's product before the game. He asked me to score a header. Hopefully I'll end up with hair like him," the Telegraph quoted Rooney as saying. Interestingly, the United star reportedly spent £30,000 on hair transplants last year in an attempt to tackle baldness.

On a more serious note, Rooney claimed England were ready for the challenges ahead after securing a place in the knockout stages of the European Championships.

"[I am] obviously delighted with the win and to score is obviously great. I haven't scored in a major championship for a while so it was nice to get the goal that effectively won us the game. I thought the whole team were fantastic, we defended really well and stuck in there at times against a difficult crowd, I thought our fans were brilliant as well and we deserved the win. We stuck together, we have a belief in ourselves and are ready for the challenges ahead," Goal.com quoted the former Everton man as saying.

Fortunately for Roy Hodgson's side, by finishing top of their group England have managed to avoid a clash with holders and tournament favourites Spain but Rooney insists the opposition does not matter at this stage and added that no team would fancy facing Hodgson's side.

"It doesn't matter who the quarter-final opponents are. The main thing was to get through the group and to finish top. We know our qualities and what we're capable of. We've worked hard, done a lot of tactical play in training. We're difficult to beat and I don't think any team will fancy playing us," the Daily Mail quoted the United forward as saying.

England will play Italy on Sunday. The Three Lions have not beaten the Azzurri in any of the last three meetings.

Ukraine Wayne Rooney