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Player Profile

Riise was bought to Monaco for £700,000 from Norwegian second division side Aalesund in the summer of 1998. After Jean Tigana left Monaco Riise wanted also to look for pastures new. Leeds showed interest but could not broker a deal with Monaco. Riise was frozen out of the first team butfinally it looked like his old mentor Tigana would buy him to Fulham. Liverpool improved Fulham's offer after Riise hasagreed terms with the London side and hijacked the deal. Riise benefited from his three-year-stay in France and combined good technique and power. He had no trouble in adapting to the English game and was a tremendous success in his debut season. He helped Liverpool bring in the Charity Shield and the European Super Cup to add to their impressive treble from the previous campaign and in only his second start in the Premier League Riise ran half the length of the pitch to score Reds' last goal in a 3-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park. Two months later Riise's excellent engine and powerful left foot impressed the club's supporters when he unleashed an incredible shot outside the penalty area that reached 70 mph. (112 km.) before going in off the bar against Manchester United at Anfield. Ripping off his shirt in celebration became his trademark.

The Norwegian delivered on the attacking front, but sometimes his defensive skills left a lot to be desired so he was also used in left midfield. Following a disappointing 2003/04 when Riise was dropped on occasions and drew a blank in the scoring stakes he played in all but one league game under new boss Rafa Benítez in the 2004/05 season that culminated in the drama that was Istanbul. Riise was actually the only Liverpool player to miss in the penalty shoot-out, but he did provide the superb cross that enabled Gerrard to head in Liverpool's first goal in their astonishing revival. Riise, anyway made amends a year later for his penalty miss, in the FA Cup final against West Ham. "I asked the manager to let me take the fourth penalty given what happened in Istanbul last year. I was carrying an injury at the time which meant that I couldn't blast the penalty there which I'd normally do. I had to place it and their keeper (Dida) saved it. That was a nightmare, even though we won the cup, it still left me demoralised but I could use the power now. I blasted it down the middle and it flew in, and as soon as it hit the back of the net, I burst into tears. They were stinging my eyes," Riise explained.

Riise wasn't a regular starter in his last season at Liverpool with his personal nadir being his own-goal in the 2008 semi-final against Chelsea in the Champions League. Liverpoolwere heading for a priceless 1-0 win in the first leg when Riise dived to head the ball unluckily into his own net at the Kop end in the 90th minute. After eventful seven years of highs and lows at Anfield, Riise left for Roma on 1 July 2008. Jamie Carragher said Riise would be missed. "He can be very proud of what he's achieved with Liverpool. He has played nearly 350 games and scored a lot of goals. He's played at a very high level for a long time now. He's never injured and he's a great professional who has always looked after himself." Riise had two solid seasons in Rome before joining his brother Björn Helge at Fulham in July 2011, at last joining the Cottagers after snubbing a move there in favour of Liverpool in 2001. John Arne was a regular at Fulham and deservedly got a great reception when he returned to Anfield as a visiting player on 1 May 2012 when the Cottagers beat Liverpool 1-0.

Riise appeared in thirty-one Premier League matches and one FA Cup-tie for Fulham in the 2012/13 season. Surprisingly, because he was known for the power of his shooting during his seven seasons with Liverpool, he was still waiting for his first Fulham goal after two full seasons with the Cottagers. At the end of his three-year contract, Riise was released by Fulham. He had played nearly a hundred matches for the Cottagers in three seasons but failed to score a single first-team goal during that time. At the start of September 2014, Riise signed a two-year contract with Cypriot club APOEL Nicosia but after winning the league and cup double in his first season his contract was terminated by mutual consent. He then announced he had joined Delhi Dynamos for the 2015 Indian Super League season. Riise rejoined his old club Aalesund in March 2016 but only three months later he confirmed his retirement from football, saying his body could no longer cope and he no longer had the motivation to carry on at a high level. However, he changed his mind for another stint in the Indian Super League. Riise appeared later in cameos for lower-league Norwegian clubs.

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