John Arne Riise’s greatest goal
Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United, Premier League, 2001
John Arne Riise certainly knew how to pick his moments. The Norwegian left-back had already introduced himself with goals against Bayern Munich (in the Super Cup final), Everton and Newcastle (both Premier League) within two months of his debut season at Anfield, but he was merely warming up for greater things.
Manchester United were on Merseyside reeling from a home defeat to Bolton in their previous match, and Michael Owen ensured their misery continued with a 32nd-minute opener. Seven minutes later, it got worse. When Liverpool won a free-kick 22 yards from goal, Riise sensed blood.
“I lined up with Dietmar Hamann, who also took some free-kicks,” he tells FFT. “We decided he was going to fake hit it, then roll it to me from a yard and a half. He actually rolled it a little bit further than I wanted him to, but I adjusted my run up...”
The strike that followed was a venomous, bludgeoned effort from Riise’s jackhammer of a left foot, which arrowed into the top corner beyond a helpless Fabien Barthez. “Didi played his part perfectly in the timing,” grins Riise. “I’m sure he will claim an assist!
“Having that kind of angle and a good left foot, I knew I had a chance. I was aiming for that top corner, obviously – but not the top, top corner... you can’t be that precise. Normally when you smash it so hard you can hit it very high, so I was focused on hitting it low. It was really smooth and I didn’t even feel anything.
“When you hit something so smoothly that it flies off your foot, it’s the best feeling ever. You can hit a good shot and it gets saved, but for this one, everything just connected. It wasn’t until afterwards that I thought, ‘That was perfect’.”
United halved the deficit shortly after half-time through David Beckham but a flappy Barthez gifted Liverpool their reply within two minutes and they romped to victory. Anfield had a new hero.
“The goal made life easier for me at Liverpool,” says Riise. “It was the most important goal of my career when it comes to being remembered, and it helped me get accepted as a player and as a person at Anfield. It got the fans to like me and believe that I was good enough for their team, and they still want to talk to me about it a lot!” Nick Moore