Riise said: "Hopefully I can have a good birthday if I play! It's always a challenge to play any team in Europe and we know Olimpija will be giving it 100 per cent and will be up for it. We will be up for it too and want to do well and are looking forward to it."
The former Monaco player may be celebrating a special day, but he is hoping that it will rain on his parade in order to soften a hard Slovenian pitch.
He added: "It's quite an old stadium and an open stadium. On first inspection the pitch is quite hard but I understand it is going to rain on the day of the game, so that should make it better."