John Arne Riise has given a detailed account of the infamous golf club incident involving his former Liverpool teammate Craig Bellamy.Much has been said and written about the altercation, which happened before the Redsâ Champions League last-16 clash against Barcelona in 2007.Rafa Benitez took his Liverpool side to Portugal for some warm-weather training ahead of their crunch European tie at Camp Nou - but chaos ensued.Speaking to Filthy Fellas this week, Riiseâs account of the incident has subsequently gone viral on social media.
What did Riise say about the Bellamy golf club incident?
The Norwegian recalled: âThe whole dinner, [Bellamy] sat there saying: âRiiseâs gonna sing, Riiseâs gonna sing!â
âI said: âNo, Iâm not gonna singâ
âBut he just kept going. And I didnât drink, some other people did.
âAfter dinner, we went to the karaoke place and Bellamy took the microphone and said: âRiiseâs gonna singâ again.
âI just lost it. I went up to him and said: âListen. Iâm not f***ing singing, so shut the f*** up or Iâm going to smash youâ.
âI was rooming with Daniel Agger in the hotel and then I could hear some keys in the door. I thought it might be Agger coming home, but then the lights came on.
âYou know when youâve been sleeping, the lights come on? Full on. You canât see. So I turned around and thereâs Bellamy with a golf club in his hands.
âSo Iâm lying there in my bed and Bellamy comes in and starts shouting: âI donât care what happens!â
âI could see he was not sober. Then he took a swing at my shins.
âI stood up and took this sheet and Iâve said: âLetâs do this the proper way, man-to-man. But no, he stood there and said: âI donât care if I go to jail, my kids have got enough money, Iâm gonna f*** you up. Nobody talks to me like this in front of my players!â
âThen he swung and I blocked it with my shin.
âThe funny thing is while I was standing there, Iâm thinking if I do something, Iâll lose my career at Liverpool.
âI said to him: âLetâs meet tomorrow, 9am. Me and you tomorrowâ.
âSo he agreed to do that.
âThe morning after, I walk to his room, 9 oâclock with Agger, knocked on his door, he wasnât there.
âThen he came in five minutes later, didnât even look at me. Then we had a meeting with Benitez, [who said]: âThis case is closed. Weâve got a game in two-three days.â
âAnd then [Bellamy] scores the first goal, I score the winner that he assisted, and we beat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou.â
Watch Riise tell the story here:
What a story.
Peter Crouch was part of the squad and reacted to the clip by tweeting: âSome night thatâ followed by the eyes emoji.
Craig Bellamy's golf club celebration
Bellamy, who was fined £80,000 by Liverpool but avoided being sacked, famously celebrated his goal against Barcelona with an iconic golf club celebration.
The cheek of it.
Bellamy gave his version of events in 2019
Bellamy explained his version of events in 2019, admitting: âI try to forget about it, itâs just embarrassing.
âFrom my own behaviour it was just stupid.â
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