Riise ready to right wrongs

Defender keen to erase memory of blunder

Last updated: 29th April 2008

John Arne Riise Liverpool Champions League Football Chelsea

Riise: Own goal nightmare

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Liverpool defender John Arne Riise insists he is mentally prepared to make amends against Chelsea in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Riise netted an injury-time own goal to hand Chelsea a slight advantage following a 1-1 first leg draw at Anfield last week.

But Riise - who returned to the Reds starting line-up in the Premier League against Birmingham last weekend - is adamant that he has now recovered from the disappointment and is ready to help Liverpool when they visit Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports 2.

"We had a day off the day after the game and I went through things in my head then," Riise told Liverpool's official website when asked about his blunder.

Focus

"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.

Mistake

"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.

"We know we can do it. 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.

"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."