Riise lightning: the red-hot man is back with his golden shot

The Ferrari 575M Maranello gets from nought to 60 in 4.1 seconds. That is very quick. But not quite quick enough to catch a John Arne Riise shot. Line up the Italian machine alongside its Norwegian rival on the starting grid, and the human will win every time. On Wednesday, as Liverpool entertained the champions at Anfield, Riise was at it again, thumping in a thunderous shot from the edge of the area. The 18-yard strike was clocked at 67.5mph and took less than a second to travel the distance. Blink and even Michael Schumacher would have missed it.

The same cannot be said for the ensuing celebration, a ritual that has come to symbolise the player as much as his hammer left foot. Riise's party piece involves lifting the famous red shirt over his face, before falling to his knees and sliding towards the crowd. It was, the player explains, something that just came to him after scoring in last season's Merseyside derby.

"I don't really know what happened," he says, as we settle down on a crisp Norwegian-like winter's morning at the Liverpool training ground. "I just had this unstoppable urge to rip everything off and run around. The fans liked it and it has stuck with me ever since."

There is something quite revealing about the chest-bearing display of emotion. Riise may have come in from the cold, but he is a warm person. Perhaps this is because his love for the game came from his mother. It was Berit who brought up John Arne and his younger brother Bjorn, also a professional footballer with Standard Liège in Belgium. "I owe a lot of my success to her," Riise says. "She has always been involved in the game [indeed, she now works as a players' agent], and she is the one who gave me the love and passion for football. And this club."

Spend any time with the Norwegian, and you realise what Liverpool FC means to him. As a lad in the small town of Aalesund, he used to sit in front of the TV on snowy Saturday afternoons and dream of one day playing at Anfield. "When I signed," he recalls, "I couldn't quite believe I was at Liverpool. I was going to join Fulham, but then the boss here [Gérard Houllier] told me I could make it, so I jumped at the chance. This is such a special place."

No wonder, then, Riise has suffered from the events of the last few months. Indeed, having made an immediate impact following his £4m transfer from Monaco in the summer of 2001, Riise's form then followed that of the majority of his team-mates last autumn. The dip led to a spell on the sidelines and the frustration of having to watch Liverpool's slump unfold. "I never really expected to be that involved last season," he explains, "but I ended up playing a lot [Riise is the only player to have featured in all 38 Premiership games]. I think that affected me, although I was never too worried because I knew if I worked hard I'd bounce back."

That Houllier's men appear to have turned the corner in the last couple of weeks is due in no small part to Riise's return to the team and to form. He is far too modest to say so himself, but he offers much more drive and, crucially, width than the young Frenchman, Djimi Traoré.

"People ask me whether I'm a defender or a midfielder," says the Molde-born player who has been rewarded with a new contract until 2007, "but I don't really care where I play. All I know is that I'm naturally offensive-minded. Like my shooting, it's instinctive for me to want to get forward. Having said that, I've picked up so much about defending since I've been at the club."

The entire squad and staff have learned valuable lessons from the 11 games without a Premiership win. "Of course, we could see the table and the fact we were seven points clear, so that can do things," Riise says of Liverpool's fall from grace since the beginning of November. "For a start, it makes other teams want to beat you more. And also, there is no way of predicting what is going to happen. You can be 20 points clear and someone can turn it around.

"That's the reality of things and that's why football is so exciting. But we're bouncing back now and we're ready to take on West Ham [at Upton Park today] and go on another great run. People say our season is ruined, but there is still plenty of silverware for Liverpool to win." Surely, though, the title is gone for another year? "You never know," Riise insists. "There are still enough games for us to be champions again."

The 22-year-old is only just old enough to remember the club's last glory days. Throughout the Nineties, though, the "other" red team took over. "A lot of my friends became Man U supporters," Riise admits, "but I've always been Liverpool all the way."

The accent certainly suggests Riise is more than a mere passer-by. "I've settled well, and picked up the lingo pretty quick," he says in his inimitable Norwegian Scouse. "Although I had no choice, to be honest. When I first arrived, Stevie Gerrard would be talking to me and I couldn't understand a word he was saying. I knew it was English, but nothing like I had heard before. Then I would turn to Jamie Carragher for advice and it was just as bad. I decided that if you can't beat them, join them."

Riise jests, but he genuinely wants to fit in, both off and on the pitch. The Norwegian international is the first to admit he does not have the natural flair of left-sided players such as Roberto Carlos or Bixente Lizarazu, but he more than compensates with his work ethic. In fact, Riise's entire career has been built on fitness rather than finesse.

"From a very young age," he says, "I've been obsessed with training. When I was 13 or 14, I used to get up every morning at six to go for a run before school. Whatever the weather, I'd be out there jogging." The professional regime at Liverpool, not to mention an average of two games per week, means that Riise spends his dawns in bed these days. But the determination to succeed remains the same. It tells you everything about his character that Riise knows he is not firing on all cylinders when "I'm not tired enough after a game".

Riise is not easily fazed, especially where the weather is concerned. The Norwegian has always thrived on harsh conditions. "I like it," he explains, "because it makes you work harder. When it snows, you have to put even more effort in to run, while the cold encourages you to keep moving all the time." With the bouncy Riise in their ranks, no wonder Liverpool are on the move again.