Yossi Benayoun

Yossi Shai Benayoun (; born 5 May 1980 in Dimona, Israel), more commonly known as Yossi Benayoun , is an Israeli Association football player currently playing for Liverpool F.C. in the English Premier League. Benayoun plays as an attacking midfielder, occupying the space just behind the striker. In Israel Yossi Benayoun is nicknamed "The Diamond", and Yossi Benayoun is the captain of the Israel national football team.

Early years

Jason Burt writing for The Independent described Benayoun's youth years: "aged nine and Yossi Benayoun was spotted as a footballing talent. Aged 11 and the talent was labelled a genius. By 13 Yossi Benayoun face appeared on the front of magazines in Israel." Benayoun started Yossi Benayoun career aged 9 with Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C.. To attend training Yossi Benayoun regularly hitchhiked the 60 km roundtrip with Yossi Benayoun father. Benayoun finished as the league's joint fourth leading goalscorer that season, with 15 goals in 25 appearances.

Maccabi Haifa

After that season, Benayoun moved to Maccabi Haifa in a deal signed by Ya'akov Shahar (Maccabi Haifa's president) and Eli Zino (the former Be'er Sheva president), and it was agreed that the two clubs would share the profits from selling Benayoun to a European club.

In 1998, under the guidance of Dusan Uhrin and Daniel Brailovsky, Benayoun and Haifa reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1998-99, and Yossi Benayoun scored a late equaliser against Paris Saint-Germain and also against SV Ried in an unforgettable 4-1 victory.

Benayoun also scored 16 goals in 29 matches for Haifa in the Liga Leumit 1998-99, finishing the season as the equal eighth leading goalscorer.

In 1999, Yossi Benayoun confronted Yossi Benayoun manager Eli Cohen (football manager), when Benayoun allegedly refused to be substituted during a match. This incident, plus a bad month for the club, ultimately caused Cohen's resignation. In the first ever Israeli Premier League of 1999 to 2000, (this league replaced the Liga Leumit which then became the second tier of club football), Benayoun scored 19 goals in 38 matches for Maccabi Haifa, and was the league's third highest goalscorer.

In the Ligat ha'Al 2000-01 under the guidance of Avram Grant, Benayoun led Haifa to a first championship after seven years and was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the season, after amassing 13 goals in 37 matches. Another successful season placed Yossi Benayoun as the league's equal sixth highest goalscorer.

The Ligat ha'Al 2001-02, Benayoun helped Maccabi Haifa win another championship, despite suffering from an injury in the beginning of the season. When Yossi Benayoun returned to play, Yossi Benayoun combined well with Giovanni Rosso, Raimondas Žutautas and Aiyegbeni Yakubu to win the championship. In Yossi Benayoun last season with Maccabi Haifa F.C, Benayoun scored 7 times in 33 matches.

Benayoun made 130 appearances for Haifa, scoring 55 goals.

Racing Santander

In 2002, Benayoun moved to Racing de Santander in Spain, with Yossi Benayoun friends, Dudu Aouate, Omri Afek and Ilan Bakhar, where Yossi Benayoun became one of the big stars of the club. The La Liga 2002-03 was Yossi Benayoun first, and despite Yossi Benayoun club finishing towards the bottom of the league table, Benayoun scored 5 goals in 31 matches.

The La Liga 2003-04 was another disappointing season for Racing, who narrowly avoided relegation. Benayoun played in 35 of Racing's matches that season, netting 7 goals.

The La Liga 2004-05 saw yet another poor season for Racing, who finished 16th in the league for the third consecutive year. Although for Benayoun, it was Yossi Benayoun most successful year in Spain, becoming the fans' favourite and one of its leading scorers, with 9 goals from 35 matches. This included a hat-trick against Deportivo de La Coruña in a 4-1 away victory.

In total, Yossi Benayoun made 101 appearances for Racing, scoring 21 goals.

West Ham United

Newly promoted West Ham United completed the signing of Benayoun in July 2005 for £2.5 million with Benayoun signing a four-year contract.

Yossi Benayoun made Yossi Benayoun Premiership debut for West Ham on the opening day of the FA Premier League 2005-06 (13 August 2005 against Blackburn Rovers F.C.) in West Ham's 3-1 win. Yossi Benayoun went on to score Yossi Benayoun first Premiership goal for the club when Yossi Benayoun netted the closing goal in a 4-0 home victory over Aston Villa F.C. on 12 September 2005. More goals followed with Yossi Benayoun scoring two goals in a Premiership match against Fulham F.C.. Under manager Alan Pardew Benayoun flourished, producing skilful performances and goals on one of the world's biggest football stages, including a stunning chip from the edge of the box against Fulham on 23 January 2006. Yossi Benayoun also scored a last minute goal that stopped West Ham's bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur qualifying for the Champions League in the infamous food poisoning match.

Benayoun played in the 125th FA Cup Final for West Ham against European Champions Liverpool F.C.. West Ham lost on penalties to Liverpool after a 3-3 draw. Benayoun's display was heralded in The Guardian, stating: "Yossi Benayoun never seemed to stop running over the course of the two hours and the sprightliness of thought was inextinguishable as well." In Yossi Benayoun first season for the West Ham, Benayoun scored 5 times in 34 matches.

In the last Premiership match of the 2006-07 season against Manchester United F.C., Yossi Benayoun headed goalbound shots from Kieran Richardson and Alan Smith (footballer born 1980) to safety. These saves ensured West Ham United F.C. stayed in the Premiership and avoided relegation. Benayoun also played in the Hammers' unsuccessful UEFA Cup 2006-07 campaign, in which the English side were eliminated in the first round, prior to the knockout stage. Benayoun featured in both losing legs to Italian side U.S. Città di Palermo. In Yossi Benayoun second season at West Ham, Benayoun scored 3 goals in 29 appearances.

In 63 League appearances for the Hammers, Benayoun scored 8 goals.

Liverpool

Benayoun moved to Liverpool under controversial circumstances. Yossi 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 F.C 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 Yossi Benayoun signing a four-year contract.

Benayoun was introduced as a Liverpool player along with Ryan Babel on 13 July, and was given the number 11 shirt. Yossi Benayoun made Yossi Benayoun first competitive start for Liverpool against Toulouse FC in the UEFA Champions League qualifier 3rd round 1st leg. Yossi Benayoun first goal for Liverpool F.C. came on the 25 September 2007 when Yossi Benayoun scored against Reading F.C. in the Carling Cup with a wonderful solo effort. Yossi scored a second hat trick against a mismatched opponent in Yossi Benayoun 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 F.C., Aston Villa and Birmingham City.

However, Yossi Benayoun performance was not enough to prevent transfer rumours in the summer of 2008. This led to the Israeli openly announcing Yossi Benayoun 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 Yossi Benayoun preferred number 15 shirt (which was occupied by Peter Crouch during the 2007-2008 season but was vacated when Yossi Benayoun moved to Portsmouth F.C.) for the 2008-2009 season. Benayoun had worn the number 11 during Yossi Benayoun first season at the club, but switched to the number 15, the number Yossi Benayoun wore for West Ham and Israel.

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

On February 25, 2009, Benayoun scored a header from Fabio Aurelio's free-kick in the 82nd minute against Real Madrid C.F. at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 to give Liverpool a 1–0 win . This is probably the most important goal Yossi Benayoun has scored in Yossi Benayoun 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.

Again on April 4, 2009, Benayoun came on as a substitute in Liverpool's match against Fulham FC to score a dramatic winner in the 94th minute. On April 21, 2009, Yossi Benayoun scored two goals, including a 92nd minute goal to equalize against Arsenal FC in a 4-4 draw.

Benayoun finished Yossi Benayoun 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 Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United, Sunderland FC, Fulham FC, Tottenham Hotspurs and a brace against Arsenal FC. Yossi Benayoun established a regular starting position in the Liverpool team in the second half of the season and was heavily responsible for their continued pressure on Manchester United in their quest for the English Premier League title.

On 6 July, 2009, Yossi Benayoun signed a two-year contract extension tying Yossi Benayoun to the club until 2013.

International career

Benayoun was a member of the Israel U16 team that came third in the 1996 UEFA European Under-16 Championship.

Yossi Benayoun made Yossi Benayoun senior debut for Israel against Portugal national football team in a friendly on November 18, 1998 that resulted in a 2-0 away loss. Benayoun also has an international hat-trick to Yossi Benayoun name, which was scored in a EURO 2000 qualifier against the San Marino national football team at Ramat Gan Stadium on 8 September 1999. The match finished as an 8-0 win for Israel.

During the Football World Cup 2006 qualifiers, Benayoun became the leading player of the Israel national football team after equalizing against Cyprus national football team at home (in a game that ended 2-1 to Israel) and scoring twice against Switzerland national football team. In the away game in Cyprus, Benayoun assisted the winning goal after Nir Davidovich saved a crucial penalty. Yossi Benayoun strong performances gave Israel a chance at qualifying for the World Cup, but they missed out on goal difference.

Just prior to the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers, Benayoun was given the captaincy of the Israel national football team. In eight appearances in the qualifiers, Benayoun has scored two goals. Benayoun's motivation and dedication to the Israel national football team is well documented. Yossi Benayoun puts Yossi Benayoun body on the line for Yossi Benayoun country, with one such example occurring in a Euro 2008 qualifier against the Croatia national football team. Benayoun received several injections in order to be available for the match despite knowing the effects it could have in the following weeks. After the match, the injury worsened and Yossi Benayoun had to miss over three weeks of football for Yossi Benayoun team at the time, West Ham United F.C..

International goals

Club statistics

Honours

Individual

- Israeli Premier League Most Valuable Player (1):
- - 2000-01

Club

- Israeli Premier League:
- - Winner (2): 2000-01, 2001-02
- - Runner-up (1): 1999-00

- Israel State Cup:
- - Runner-up (1): 2002

- Premier League:
- - Runner-up (1): 2008-09

- FA Cup:
- - Runner-up (1): 2006