Audio: A Liverpool legend in the house
John Arne Riise. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
The Norwegian midfielder and Liverpool legend John Arne Riise is in Iceland at the invitation of the Icelandic Liverpool fan club – and is completely fascinated by the country. He is delighted to finally have the opportunity to get to know Iceland properly.
He went on a wide-ranging interview with Eva Ruza and Bolli Már in Ísland vaknar on K100 this morning and, among other things, expressed his admiration for Icelandic nature.
“We managed to explore the lava field and we could see how powerful nature is. It was an incredible experience. So far I have loved everything about it,” Riise said in English, adding that his next goal is to go on the Golden Circle.
Liverpool was a distant dream
Riise also recalled that Liverpool was a distant dream in his youth. He did not believe that he would play for the team himself, but he did everything he could to become the best. As a young boy, he trained up to 21 times a week, partly to overcome negative experiences with bullying.
He described how the greatest moments of his career didn’t necessarily happen on the pitch – but rather in the tunnel before the 2006 FA Cup final, for example, when he realised how far he had come.
Lost 25 kilos – and plans to help others
Mental health is on Riise’s mind and he recently took part in a 24-hour treadmill running project in support of mental health issues. There, he ran a total of 172 kilometres and raised money for the cause.
He has also taken part in the Norwegian reality show 16 Ukers Helvete, where he lost over 25 kilos. He says he now plans to use this experience to help others get started – and plans to launch his own remote training project in two weeks.
Signing autographs
He will be attending Jói Útherji, Iceland's most famous football store, in Ármúli next Saturday and will be there to meet guests and passersby and sign autographs.
Here is an interview that K100, the Árvakur radio station, took with Riise this morning.
