Euro 2022: John Arne Riise slams "pathetic" Norway after England thrashing | OneFootball

Norwegian football legend John Arne Riise was scathing about his country’s performance against England at Euro 2022.

Riise, acting as a pitch-side pundit during the match at Brighton’s Amex Stadium, delivered a strong message to his compatriots at half-time.

He had witnessed their extraordinary 6-0 demolition first-hand, standing on the sidelines as Beth Mead and Ellen White scored two goals each. Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp added to Norway’s misery with strikes of their own.

Riise was visibly angry about the performance, telling the BBC: “This is the biggest game in a long time for Norway. You see the attitude, that’s why I think it’s embarrassing, it’s pathetic, because there’s no body language or the will to fight for your country.

“Tactically, they’re all over the place! The defending was horrible, I said at 2-0 this could get ugly. It’s unbelievably shocking to see how bad Norway were first half.

“When you see the players, they’re looking to the coaches’ bench and asking ‘who should pick up who’.

“England are doing extremely well in their positioning with and without the ball but Norway don’t know what to do without the ball. England’s right side are killing Norway.”

The 41-year-old Riise is the most capped male Norwegian player with 110 appearances.

He was part of the Norwegian squad at Euro 2000, but was an unused substitute in all three of his team’s group matches.

Despite Riise’s strong words, it went from bad to worse for Norway in the second half, with England extending their lead to triumph 8-0.

Alessio Russo got her first goal at a major international tournament, before Mead scored her third to achieve her fourth hat-trick for England.

The result was the biggest win in the history of the European Championship, men and women’s.

The previous record-breaking victory had also been set by England, who romped their way to a 6-0 win over Scotland at Euro 2017, while there have been five men’s games won by a five-goal margin.

Mead, who was named player of the match, was lauded by Arsenal comrade Ian Wright.

BBC Sport studio.