"I never thought we'd lost the game yesterday, not even when there was only five minutes left and not even when we went into injury time," Riise told the club's official website during the parade.
"When you have the best player in the world in your side then you know that anything is possible. I was just praying for somebody to do something special and Stevie came up trumps again. When the ball hit the net I felt like running over to him to give him a big kiss but then I decided against it!
"Gerrard is the best for me. He is still young, he's got everything in his game and he can do whatever he wants in football. It was just brilliant to win the final. The odds were against us at one stage but there's a great belief in this team now and we never believe we are beaten.
"The fans have come out in great numbers to welcome us home again today and it's brilliant to see that we've put so many smiles on their faces at the end of what has been a very long and tiring season.
"Next year the aim has to be mounting a serious title challenge and I'm sure we can do it. Hopefully this time next year we will be doing a parade of the city with the Premiership trophy to show off."