Yossef Shai Benayoun

Yossef Shai Benayoun (‎; born 5 May 1980), is an Israeli football player currently playing for Liverpool in the English Premier League. Benayoun plays as an attacking midfielder, occupying the space just behind the striker. In Israel, he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond". Furthermore, he is the captain of the Israeli national team.

Benayoun moved to Liverpool under controversial circumstances. He had verbally agreed a new five-year deal with West Ham in May 2007, only to go back on the agreement in a bid to move to Liverpool The controversy was heightened on 10 July when the Israeli media reported that Benayoun's agent, Ronen Katsav, had agreed a deal with Liverpool which would mean Benayoun taking a lower pay than the £50,000 a week offered by West Ham in May. On 12 July, Liverpool FC reported on their official website that the signing of Yossi Benayoun had been completed a £5 million deal with him signing a four-year contract.^[14][15]

Benayoun was introduced as a Liverpool player along with Ryan Babel on 13 July, and was given the number 11 shirt. He made his first competitive start for Liverpool against Toulouse in the UEFA Champions League qualifier 3rd round 1st leg. His first goal for Liverpool came on the 25 September 2007 when he scored against Reading in the Carling Cup with a wonderful solo effort. Yossi scored a second hat trick against a mismatched opponent in his first season against non-league side Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup, a team 122 places behind Liverpool on the league pyramid. Benayoun ended a successful first season having played 48 games scoring 11 goals in the process, including four league goals against Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth, Aston Villa, and Birmingham City.

However, his performance was not enough to prevent transfer rumours in the summer of 2008. This led to the Israeli openly announcing his intention to stay, saying: "Liverpool is good for me and it was always clear I want to stay and Liverpool wants me," Yossi was given his preferred number 15 shirt (which was occupied by Peter Crouch during the 2007–08 season but was vacated when he moved to Portsmouth) for the 2008–09 season. Benayoun had worn the number 11 during his first season at the club, but switched to his favourite number 15, the number he wore for Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Maccabi Haifa, Racing de Santander, West Ham United and Israel.^[17]

On 6 December 2008, Benayoun scored his first goal of the 2008–09 season in Liverpool's 3–1 victory over Blackburn.

On 25 February 2009, Benayoun scored a header from Fábio Aurélio's free-kick in the 82nd minute against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 to give Liverpool a 1–0 win ^[18]. This is probably the most important goal he has scored in his career to date. "To score in the Champions League was special. It was one of the favourite goals of my career...I am really pleased to score at the Bernabeu but the most important thing was to get the victory", Benayoun said after the match.^[19]

Again on 4 April 2009, Benayoun came on as a substitute in Liverpool's match against Fulham to score a dramatic winner in the 94th minute.^[20] On April 21, 2009, in a home match against Arsenal, he scored a diving header and volleyed a late equaliser in extra time to level the scores at 4–4.^[21]

Benayoun finished his second season at Anfield in spectacular fashion; scoring a goal in each of Liverpool's last three home matches. In the 2008–09 season, Benayoun played in 39 matches, scoring 9 goals, including eight league goals against Wigan, Blackburn, Newcastle, Sunderland, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and a brace against Arsenal. He established a regular starting position in the Liverpool team in the second half of the season.

On 6 July 2009, he signed a two-year contract extension tying him to the club until 2013.^[22]

On 12 September 2009, he scored his first Premier League hat-trick for Liverpool in a 4–0 win against Burnley. It was his third Liverpool hat-trick to date after the ones against Beşiktaş in an 8–0 thrashing and against Havant & Waterlooville in a 5–2 win for Liverpool.^[23] He remains the only player to score Premiership, Champions League and FA Cup hat tricks.


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