John Arne Riise

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Personal information
John Arne Riise

Full name	John Arne Semundseth Riise
Date of birth	September 24, 1980
Place of birth	Aalesund, Norway
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position	Left full back, Left midfielder
Club information
Current club	Liverpool F.C.
Number	6
Youth clubs
	Aalesunds F.K.
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1998 1998–2001 2001–present	Aalesunds F.K. AS Monaco Liverpool	25 (5) 44 (4) 184 (21)
National team**
2000–present	Norway	56 (5)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 December 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 1 November 2006.

John Arne Semundseth Riise (born September 24, 1980 in Molde) is a Norwegian football player who currently plays for Liverpool F.C. Riise is renowned for his shooting power on his favoured left foot and excellent stamina.

1 Biography
2 Outside football
3 Statistics
4 Career honours
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Formative years

Riise began his career in his homeland with Aalesunds F.K.. After a single season as senior player for the club, he moved abroad in 1998 and played the formative years of his professional career with French club AS Monaco. He was a regular member of the 1999-2000 Ligue 1 championship-winning Monaco side. However, the youngster fell out of favour with coach Claude Puel after admitting his desire to leave. Riise was subject of much interest from English Premiership clubs, with both Blackburn Rovers and Fulham FC trying to sign him, before settling on Liverpool FC.

[edit] Liverpool under Houllier

Riise became Liverpool's first signing during the 2001 summer break, when he moved from Monaco in a £ 4 million transfer deal. He made his debut for Liverpool in the European Super Cup game against Bayern Munich on August 24, 2001, played at the Stade Louis II in Monaco. He scored a tap-in in the first half from a Michael Owen cross. Liverpool went on to win the game 3-2, after leading 3-0. Riise initially wore the number 18 shirt, but since the 2004-2005 season he has worn the number 6 shirt, vacated by German defender Markus Babbel.

In his first season with Liverpool, he scored ten goals in total - an admirable return for a player who played at left full-back on many occasions during the season. These included a brilliant solo effort in the Merseyside derby on September 15 at Goodison Park, which helped Liverpool to win the game 3-1. He also scored a twenty yard free-kick against Manchester United on 4 November 2001. The goal was so exceptional that Liverpool fans still sing a song about it in his honour, although some fans attribute this to his goal against Everton FC earlier in the season.

Riise rounded off his first season by scoring two early goals on the last day of the 2001-02 season against Ipswich Town. The goals were important as Liverpool needed to win the match to ensure a second-place finish in the Premiership. They went on to do just that with a 5-0 win.

He endured what were considered below-average seasons by most in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, but he rediscovered his form in 2004-05 following the appointment of Rafael Benítez as manager.

[edit] Liverpool under Benitez

During 2004-05, Riise's achievements include scoring a vital first goal against Charlton Athletic at Anfield, an impressive brace against West Bromwich Albion away, and the fastest goal ever in League Cup final, after just forty-five seconds, with a fantastic volley against Chelsea. Liverpool eventually lost the Final 3-2 after extra time. Riise was Liverpool's top scorer in Premiership away games in that season.

Riise played in the Champions League final against A.C. Milan on 25 May 2005 at the Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu in Istanbul, Turkey. He played an important part in Liverpool's come back in the second half, having been 3-0 down in the first, by crossing the ball which was headed into the goal by Steven Gerrard, giving Liverpool some hope. The team went on to score two more goals shortly afterwards and won 3-2 on penalties, though Riise's penalty was saved by A.C. Milan's goalkeeper Dida.

The 2005–06 season was again successful for Riise, with Liverpool improving in the league and winning the FA Cup. In January Riise signed a new contract at Anfield to keep him at the club until 2009.<ref>Riise signs new deal at Liverpool, BBC Sport, January 20, 2006</ref> Throughout the season Riise had many memorable moments. On February 18 2006, in the last minute of a match against Manchester United, Liverpool were awarded a free kick and Riise duly hit it. Alan Smith, a Manchester United player, succeeded in blocking the ball, but immediately went down injured. After five minutes he was stretchered off. It was later found that Smith had broken his leg and dislocated his ankle. Before being stretchered off Liverpool fans chanted to Riise "John Arne Riise, I wanna know [carry on the syllable] how you broke his leg". Once the severity of the injury became apparent Smith received a standing ovation from both home and away supporters. Smith later said, "I felt my leg go from under me as I went to block a free-kick," Smith told The Sun. "When I looked down, the leg was lying one way and my ankle was pointing towards Hong Kong so I knew I was in serious trouble." <ref>Smith describes broken leg agony, BBC Sport, February 20, 2006</ref>

During Liverpool's victorious FA Cup run they met Chelsea in the semi-final on 22 April 2006. Riise scored Liverpool's opening goal from a free-kick. The shot went through a gap in the Chelsea defenders' wall and straight into the net. Liverpool ended up winning the match 2-1. The final on 13 May was against West Ham. The game finished 3-3 after extra time. Riise netted Liverpool's fourth penalty-kick in the shoot-out to help guide the Merseysiders to their 7th FA Cup. He was overcome with emotion after scoring as he had missed a penalty in Liverpool's Champions League Final shoot-out with AC Milan the previous year.

Riise's pre-season form for the 2006–07 season had been worrying with various mistakes costing Liverpool goals in their pre-season friendlies. However in the season-opening Community Shield game Riise was back on form. Riise scored the first goal of the game against Chelsea. He ran from just outside his own box along the majority of the pitch before shooting past Carlo Cudicini. Liverpool won the match 2-1, just as when Riise opened the scoring in the FA Cup semi-final, described above. Riise scored yet another wonderful trademark goal, when he let fly from 35 yards against Tottenham Hotspur on the 23rd September 2006. His left footed piledriver flew past the despairing Paul Robinson and thundered into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. Liverpool went on to win the game 3-0.

After a poor run of form in Liverpool's away games in the autumn of 2006, Riise reacted to comments made by team-mates Pepe Reina and Jamie Carragher that Liverpool could effectively write off their chances of winning the league, saying "We never give up. Cowards give up." <ref>Riise & Reina split on title race, BBC Sport, November 15, 2006</ref>

[edit] Outside football

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Riise has one daughter Ariana from his previous marriage with Norwegian model Guri Havnevik. His younger brother, Bjørn Helge Riise, is also a professional footballer.

Riise has also captured the media's attention outside the pitch. In August 2005 Norwegian tabloid newspapers revealed that Riise had sent numerous SMS to different Norwegian celebrity women with the exact same text (translated from Norwegian): "Good evening... After a lot of calling to all kinds of contacts, I finally got your number. I have always thought you are very charming, cute, sexy, fantastic aura, and last but not least, you seem exciting and challenging;) hope we can get in touch, and I will of course invite you on a romantic dinner for two;) kiss from John Arne Riise xxx". This turned into a big case in the media and gave most Norwegians a good laugh - especially since the short message contained a lot of spelling mistakes. Riise has later stated that he doesn't want to discuss any issues but football with the press and that he's going to boycott the Norwegian tabloids VG and Dagbladet. The text was later parodized in the comic strip M in a way that could be seen as a friendly stab at Frode Øverli and Pondus (both of which are avid Liverpool-supporters). This caused the two comics to make strips about each other for some time.

His best friend is the famous Norwegian dancer Kjetil Iversen, and they are often seen together, when they go skiing.

[edit] Statistics

**Club Performance**
Club	Season	Premiership		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Liverpool FC	2006-07	10	1	0	0	1	1	4	0	1	1	16	3
	2005-06	32	1	6	3	0	0	12	0	2	0	52	4
	2004-05	37	6	0	0	5	1	15	1	0	0	57	8
	2003-04	28	0	1	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	35	0
	2002-03	37	6	3	0	4	0	11	0	1	0	56	6
	2001-02	38	7	2	0	0	0	15	1	1	0	56	8
Club	Season	Ligue 1		French Cup		Ligue Cup		Europe		Others		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
AS Monaco FC	2000-01	16	3	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	20	3
	1999-00	21	1	0	0	0	0	6	1	0	0	27	2
	1998-99	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8	0
Club	Season	Norwegian Division 1		NM-Cup		---------		Europe		Others		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Aalesunds FK	1998	17	4	?	?	-	-	0	0	0	0	17	4
Aalesunds FK	1997	8	1	?	?	-	-	0	0	0	0	8	1
Total		249	30	12	3	14	2	70	3	5	1	350	39