Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Riise: I Will Bounce Back

John Arne Riise insists he has recovered from the shock of his own goal in the first leg of Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final with Chelsea, and is ready to make amends at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

The Norwegian made the headlines for all the wrong reasons last week when he headed past a helpless Pepe Reina in the 95th minute at Anfield to gift Chelsea a vital away goal and level the scores at 1-1.

It was Riise’s second own goal this season – perhaps his last season on Merseyside, in fact – his first coming against Luton Town in the FA Cup in January.

The 27-year-old admits he engaged in a significant amount of soul-searching after last Tuesday’s nightmare, but he insists he has come to grips with his error and is focused solely on besting the Blues tomorrow night.

"We had a day off the day after the game and I went through things in my head then," said Riise.

"I just went home and I didn't want to speak to anyone, I just had to think about it myself. I realised you just have to move on and now I think I have. All you can do is focus on upcoming games, not ones that have gone before.

"For me the biggest thing was the timing of the goal, the last kick of the game and such an important game too. That was the most disappointing thing for me and everyone in the team.

"But mentally I am very strong anyway and I managed to get things quickly out of my mind. Coming back on Saturday was all that mattered to me and now it's Wednesday – just thinking about doing well if I get the chance there.

"Nobody wants to score an own goal but people make mistakes – and nobody will blame me if it's 0-0 on Wednesday and we don't go through.

"But nobody is even thinking about that, we are going to try and get a win and hopefully we will get it. Then the first leg result and the own goal won't matter."

Last week’s result means Chelsea head into the second leg as favourites to progress to the final in Moscow, where they would face Manchester United following the Red Devils’ 1-0 aggregate win over Barcelona.

But Liverpool have a knack of performing when given the tag of underdogs, especially on the European stage, and while Riise respects the threat Chelsea pose, he believes the Reds will succeed once more to reach their third Champions League final in four years.

"We know we can do it," the former Monaco full-back said. "It's a case of going there, having a go and knowing we can score.

"We are positive and know we can get a result. It's a big game and it's going to be a cracking night so hopefully we can come up winners in the end.

"We have to respect Chelsea for the team they are. They beat Manchester United on Saturday and haven't lost at home for God knows how many games so I think we have to respect that beforehand – but records are there to be broken. And we will go there and try to win because we have to and it's for a place in the final of the Champions League.

"So the whole team has a lot of confidence and we know we can have a go and score. It's going to be tough game but these games are why we play football."

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