RIISE IRONS OUT BELLAMY DIFFERENCE
John Arne Riise has admitted he wants to see Craig Bellamy stay at
Liverpool and claims the pair have put the incident that marred the
build-up to their Champions League victory over Barcelona behind
them.
Riise and Bellamy were involved in a row at the club's training
camp where it was alleged the Wales striker had threatened the
Norwegian defender with a golf club.
It has emerged since that nobody was hit by a golf club, but the
pair had to be reprimanded by manager Rafael Benitez.
Then the same players scored the goals that beat Barcelona in the
Nou Camp.
Now Riise insists in a News of the World article there is no longer
animosity.
He said: "Craig is a great player and we all want great players at
this club. He always works very hard for the team.
"It is not up to me to decide what the future is for Craig at
Liverpool. My job is to focus on what I am doing for the
team.
"But I would like to see him stay here. It was destiny that it
should be me and Bellamy who scored the goals."
He added: "We both had a tough week after Portugal but we had the
courage to put all the problems behind us. Craig and I are men, we
are mature, we are team players.
"We spoke about what happened but the important thing was we agreed
we could put it behind us and we are happy. To score against
Barcelona was great but we did it for the team not for
ourselves.
"The spirit is strong between us. We knew everyone would expect us
to fail after what happened in Portugal.
"But it wasn't about John Arne Riise or Craig Bellamy. It was a
victory for Liverpool."
