Sport

Liverpool inspired by three-goal Benayoun

September 14, 2009 10:30
Yossi Benayoun
1 min read

Israel captain Yossi Benayoun has been reflecting on his first Premier League hat-trick for Liverpool which inspired the Reds to a 4-0 victory over Burnley at Anfield.

Benayoun, 29, bounced back from Israel's World Cup qualifying woes to score his third hat-trick in a Liverpool shirt.

The midfielder opened the scoring in the first half after cutting inside Graham Alexander and sliding a shot across keeper Brian Jensen.

He was involved in the second as well. Following a swift counter-attack, Benayoun's shot proved too hot for Jensen, allowing Dirk Kuyt to slotted in the loose ball.

Benayoun opened up a 3-0 lead with a simple tap-in following a powerful surge by Steven Gerrard. The Israel went on to complete his hat-trick eight minutes from time after a slide-rule pass from sub Andriy Voronin passes to round off an impressive display that leaves Liverpool fifth in the table.

"It was a good day for me and it was great to score three goals," Benayoun said. "But the most important thing is the three points. We played a lot of good football at times and won the match - that is more important to me than scoring goals.

"I started on the right but Rafa told me to move around and try and get in between the lines," he said. "Every time I did that I found space so I could turn and go forward.

"I was lucky because the rest of the team provided me with good passes to score.

"It was the perfect day for me."

Reds boss Rafa Benitez said: "Yossi had been away on international duty and done a lot of travelling, but he wanted to play.
"It is important to him to show his quality in every training session and every match."

Tamir Cohen scored the opener as Bolton Wanderers beat Portsmouth 3-2. This was the Israeli midfielder's second goal of the campaign.