Yossi Benayoun: The criminally underappreciated 'critter' who took a boot to the face for his goal i
Andrey Arshavin scored FOUR goals during Arsenal's crazy draw at Liverpool in April 2009 but maybe the real hero that night was wearing a red kit.
The Russian unsurprisingly stole all the headlines with his stunning quadruple, two with his left foot and two with his right, by the way.


Props must go to Yossi Benayoun too. The underrated Israeli fired in twice for Liverpool, including a stoppage-time strike which denied Arshavin the cherry on top of being the match winner too.
This match epitomised Benayoun's career. He works his socks off, produces when it matters, but is still criminally underappreciated.
He even struggled to win over the managers who signed him. Former West Ham boss Alan Pardew has been quoted describing him as a 'skinny little critter'. Only Pardew knows if that was meant affectionately.
Meanwhile, Benayoun told the tale of how Liverpool fans had booed Rafael Benitez twice when substituting him but the Spaniard bluntly replied they were booing because Benayoun wasn't playing well enough.


But despite these alleged protests, when you ask Liverpool fans about the club's best players in recent years, Benayoun will seldom get a mention. Why?
Perhaps it's because he looked like he was ready for a good kip after every match he played, perhaps it was because he faded into the football wilderness as the back end of his career was ravaged by injury (people forget he later went on to play for Arsenal), but Benayoun is still appreciated by his former teammates.
Fernando Torres, who played alongside him for the Reds and at Chelsea, named Benayoun in his combined Liverpool and Chelsea XI AHEAD of Eden Hazard.
When picking the team, Torres said: "I will get Yossi Benayoun in there...he’s a great friend and a great player.
"It was easy to play with him for me, he was always trying to give chances to the striker and looking for those small gaps that no one can see but him."

He was even praised in matches he didn't play. Steven Gerrard gave a special mention to 'fantastic' Benayoun following Liverpool's 4-0 blitz of Real Madrid in March 2009 having scored a crucial winner in the first leg at the Bernabeu which helped Liverpool go through so comfortably.
It's with good reason that he has the respect of former teammates. Benayoun is joined by Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero in the exclusive club of being the only three players to net hat-tricks in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
Okay, the Champions League treble was in an 8-0 drubbing of Besiktas at Anfield, while the FA Cup one was against non-league Havant and Waterlooville but still impressive all the same.
However, when you look at Benayoun's finest hour in a Reds shirt, forget the hat-tricks or that header in Madrid. It was on a crisp Anfield night which ultimately paled into the insignificant pile of Liverpool's illustrious history where Benayoun was at his best.
Didi Hamann plays down Thiago to Liverpool deal and warns there's no guarantee he'll be a success at AnfieldNot only did he leave a mark on the game, the game left a mark on him, as the featherweight showed he had the desire of 11 men combined.
Only a win would do for Liverpool. They were very much second favourites for the title but still held hope that they could pip Sir Alex Ferguson's formidable Manchester United to the post.
They came up against Arsenal, who were in a great position to qualify for the following season's Champions League but were beginning to develop the reputation of being a side that crumbles in big matches. Plus Liverpool had home advantage and the raucous Anfield faithful would surely will them to another three points, right?
No Gerrard that night and the captain's absence saw Liverpool struggle to find their rhythm. Arshavin's close-range effort gave Arsenal a half-time lead but Torres equalised with a header shortly after the restart.

Benayoun then gave Liverpool the lead with a header of his own.
He stayed on the floor while the home crowd went berserk as it became apparent he also made a connection with Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna's boot as he dived to score.
Worth it? Absolutely.




However, the Gunners came back and a quickfire double from Arshavin saw him complete his hat-trick and more importantly it gave the visitors the lead.
Torres made it 3-3 but Liverpool hearts were broken when Arshavin got his and Arsenal's fourth in the 90th minute. Benayoun had other ideas though.

A Nabil El Zhar (remember him?) put a header across goal which wasn't properly dealt with and Benayoun gobbled up the chance from six yards to deny Arsenal the win.
There wasn't enough time for Liverpool to find a winner and the final whistle left Anfield quite flat as it was another setback in their bid to land an unlikely first ever Premier League title.
But Benayoun held his bruised head high as one of the Premier League's greatest ever matches concluded.
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