A while ago there was a documentry on Yossi Benayoun in an Israeli television channel. I've missed the show but a nice person aka Paddee just sent me a PM with the video of it. We both thought Liverpool supporters would be interested reading it so I've transcripted the parts I thought people would want to read (it was a long show).
Links to watch:
Opening segment,
Part1,
Part2,
Part3,
Part4,
Part5.
Talks about the Israeli national team[Reporter] On the way to a TV set in Tel-Aviv we met an environmentally-friendly Benanyoun but also very upset. The English press is reporting a confrontation between him and the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, because Yossi missed a few games due to an injury before playing for Israel.
[Yossi] Rafa came to me and said that if I'm not 100% fit for Liverpool then I can't play for Israel. Liverpool sent a fax to the Israeli football association saying that the player is injured but then me and Rafa started to talk. I said: "There's still a week to go before the NT's game, give me at least the chance to see what happens if my condition gets better and maybe I will be able to play". After another one or two talks I was given permission to go.
[Reporter] There's also a lot of criticism towards you in the Israeli press. They say that for some reason you get injured before international games (before the game against Greece, a sports newspaper published a list of all his injuries dating all the way back to 1998).
[Yossi] Yes, as if I plan them. They say that I'm doing this on purpose to draw attention to myself, that in Israel I enjoy the attention. That's bullsh**. I don't care what people will say, I do what I think is right for my career, I want to fulfill my dreams and if sometimes I need to take a risk, I'll take it.
[Reporter] Approximately 50,000 people come to the stadium in Ramat-Gan, the majority of them are coming to see you. Does that go though your head when you're considering whether to play or not and the fear of disappointing them?
[Yossi] That's the main thing. I believe that all the fans want me to play and they know I can contribute to the team.
Soon I'll be 29 years old and I won't have many more moments of playing in international competitions. When will I have an opportunity like this to reach the World Cup? I'm certain that this is the best opportunity I'll get.
[Reporter] When you hear the national anthem…
[Yossi] I can't open my eyes during the anthem. I get tears of pride. That's the most enjoyable moment – standing in Ramat-Gan with all the players, all next to each other in a row, and hearing the anthem and the crowd.
Talks about the road to success[Yossi] We had struggles. The family had no money, no means. We didn't have money even for bus tickets. For years me and my dad hitchhiked to training. Once I arrived to the youth's game of the season five minutes before kick-off because no one stopped to give us a ride. I was included in the starting line-up, we won 1-3 and I scored all three.
[Reporter] Yossi, the football prince from the concrete pitches in
Dimona, takes the national youth team all the way to the European championship final. Ajax, the great Dutch club, makes an offer that cannot be refused: A professional contract at the age of 16 including accommodation for all the family, big money and a secured future.
[Yossi] I wasn't prepared to leave without my girlfriend, Mirit, (now his wife) and it wasn't easy to convince her parents that she should go and live with me in Holland when we knew each other for only 10 months. I said to Ajax that if she doesn't come with me then I'm not coming.
[Reporter] In Holland he received the shirt number 14. In Ajax that number belonged to Cruyff – one of football's greatest players ever.
[Yossi] After 2-3 months I had a feeling that I'm breaking-up the family because living in Holland was very difficult for my Mom and my brother. We've decided that both of them will return to Israel and I'll stay with my Dad and my girlfriend. That wasn't easy.
I prefer to be happy and less successful because being happy is the most important thing.
I followed my heart and a day after I made the decision to leave Ajax and return home I was the happiest man in the world.
People always come to me and say that I probably regret it, that if I'd stayed I could've become more successful but here I am. I arrived to the best place possible. I'm in Liverpool despite all that I've been through. I've reached the place I was destined to reach.
Talks about the road to Liverpool[Reporter] In order to join Liverpool he had to do something that wasn't simple. Westham owned his card and demanded he'll stay but then faced an unbreakable stubbornness and determination.
[Yossi] I sat on their kidneys every day for two weeks trying to convince them. I gave up 50% in salary from what Westham offered me. Money didn't interest me. I said to them: "I will give you money just please let me go. That's my dream, let me fulfill it". Eventually it worked.
Talks about his biggest goal[Yossi] In the game against Manchester City at Anfield I've missed a chance to win the game. I came home and told my wife how I couldn't believe that I've missed it. She told me that it's a good sign that I've missed because God is saving me a winner at the Bernabeu. (Laughing it off) I'll score the winning goal in the Bernabeu?!
In most free-kicks I wait around the 16-yard-box for the rebound. This time I've decided to go in. Riera came to me before Aurelio's cross and said: "Let's both run to the near post" and I said "fine". You tell me, isn't that a divine intervention?
I was ecstatic, screamed like a lunatic. I was embraced to see the photos of me in the press the day after.
The first thing that came to my mind after I scored was my wife and children. I've imagined how they felt at that moment; the parents in Dimona, the family and friends.
[Reporter] How do you keep you feet on the ground?
[Yossi] There's no reason why they shouldn't stay on the ground. You know that in the next game you must prove yourself again and concentrate on the next game. So I've scored an important goal but what does it say? Does it guarantee me a place in the next match or that suddenly I'm a big star? It doesn't work that way.
[Reporter] You're not a big star?
[Yossi] No. I hate talking about players in terms of stars.
Talks about the Anfield faithfulls[Reporter] When we watch Liverpool on TV there's that moment when the players are walking out of the tunnel and you hear the crowd sings YNWA, Do you feel like you're in a dream?
[Yossi] Yes. Without a doubt that is the most special thing I've experienced since coming to Liverpool. You just step on the pitch at Anfield, you start to shiver and you thank God every day that you're there.
The adrenalin that courses through your body, the buzz they give you, you can't spend a minute not running. You can make a sliding tackle and the crowd gets excited as if you've just scored. The crowd drives you on and lives the game.
Talks about money[Reporter] Spartak Moscow came with an offer of nearly $100m. How do you say no to $100m?
[Yossi] You weigh the advantages and disadvantages. Financially that's an extraordinary offer, for sure, but you know that career-wise you'll be going backwards. You can disappear.
[Reporter] Does it look reasonable to you that for a man to play football he gets a weekly cheque of £55,000? (the reporter's basically trying to get Yossi to say how much money he makes).
[Yossi] You can try to guess. Everyday a different figure is published. It doesn't matter and it's not the point. Who cares? Do you think that a kid on the street is interested in how much I make? He cares about what I do on the pitch, whether I scored a goal or won the game. That's what interests him.
Players speaking about Yossi[Arbeloa] I tell him: "you have to be more selfish because you can make a difference in this team". I always say that to him but he needs to believe in himself more. In this team we don't have players like Yossi, there aren't many players in the world like Yossi.
[Reina] I've been in football for ten years and he's one of the best teammates I've ever shared a dressing room with.
[Torres] Yes, for me he should always play because I need a player like him with quality in the pass and always looking forward, looking for the striker. I always say to him that if I was the manager he'd always play with me.
All the teammates only say good things about him and it's very difficult in football today.
Showing a humorous side[Reporter] We (the filming crew) saw you in Israel's first game of the WC Qualifiers against Greece which ended in a disappointing draw, the second match ended in an ugly defeat, now we came to Liverpool... what does that mean?
[Yossi] That you shouldn't have come, you're all jinxing! That will be your test, not mine. If God forbid Liverpool won't win on Saturday that'll be the last time you'd ever come near me again!
[Reporter] Who's your roommate when you travel?
[Yossi] Fernando Torres.
[Reporter] What do you do together?
[Yossi] We talk, watch TV. He loves to play the Playstation; I don't like it so much. Other players come in to play. Mascherano…
[Mascherano] Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. We play with Fernando Torres.
[Torres] I normally beat Mascherano but he's really poor in Playstation.
[Yossi] I add the spice from the background. Whoever loses I make fun of.
[Mascherano] I don't like to lose in Playstation, in nothing. I like to win.
Ending of the show[Reporter] How would you call this movie?
[Yossi] Maybe "You'll never walk alone"?
[Reporter] Maybe "The diamond from Dimona"?
[Yossi] What diamond, barely a marble stone.
