Riise believes there is no psychological edge over Italian opponents

May 23 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

“We have a bigger squad, a stronger squad, better players and I think we proved that by getting to the final again.”

Speaking at yesterday’s pre-match press conference, Riise rubbished the suggestion Liverpool’s first knockout round win at Barcelona was a turning point in their Champions League campaign.

The Norwegian netted the winner from a pass from Craig Bellamy after the pair had been allegedly been involved in the notorious golf club incident during Liverpool’s training camp in Portugal ahead of the game.

But Riise said: “I don’t think the Barcelona game was the first time we believed we could win it. It was a step forward, but we knew we still had to play a lot of games to get to the final.

“We always had the belief in the team that we can win every game we play. We proved against Barcelona that, even though they were favourites, we produced a performance and could go through.”

Riise also netted trademark screamer in the quarter-final cruise at PSV Eindhoven.

But he added: “I’ve been lucky that when I’ve scored it had been a big game. But every game at Liverpool is a big game.”