Liverpool will be looking to clinch the Premier League title in the forthcoming weeks, with the Reds currently 12 points clear at the top of the table with nine games left to play. Despite disappointing defeats to Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United in their last two outings in the Champions League and League Cup final, it still feels a matter of when, not if, Arne Slot’s men are named champions.
‘We’re gonna win the league, we’re gonna win the league! And now you’re gonna believe us, and now you’re gonna believe us, and now you’re gonna believe us! We’re gonna win the league!’
Supporters have already sung the song about the champions elect, dusting it off the first time away at Man City when Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners against their former title foes back on February 23. Then, it was as much about sticking the knife into Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions as their own confidence about the Reds’ endeavours.
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They have been here before, of course. After beating Manchester United 2-0 back on January 19, 2020, supporters sung the song. There might have been 16 games left to play, but there were 16 points clear at the top of the table while also possessing a game in hand.
But such words have come back to bite them in the past too. On April 4, 2009, a 92nd minute winner from Yossi Benayoun against Fulham prompted the same scenes in the away end at Craven Cottage.
The win sent Rafa Benitez’s side two points clear of Manchester United, who had lost their last two league matches, but the Reds had played two games more.
Inevitably, when up against Sir Alex Ferguson’s juggernauts who had nine games left to play, such chants were premature. The following day, Federico Macheda struck a stoppage-time winner in a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa to reclaim top spot, with United having trailed with little over 10 minutes left to play.
They would go unbeaten for the rest of the Premier League season, dropping points only once at home to Arsenal, as they pipped Liverpool to the league title by four points.
Benayoun believed Liverpool would go on to win the league after his last-gasp winner in the capital. But he is confident Slot’s own side won’t suffer the same disappointment.
“Yeah, I also thought after this game (against Fulham that we would win the league),” he admitted to the ECHO. “But I think Macheda came the day after against Aston Villa.
“I was at Liverpool when they hadn’t won the league for a long time. This was our target all the time and I think we missed it. You remember season 08/09 with Man U, we were leading in January, I don't know for how many points, and then we lost it.
“At the time we felt we were a very good team and we could win the league and, of course, when you score a winner that late, you think the luck is with you and we will win the league.
“But they had more luck the day after, unfortunately. But I think we had a great team with a lot of great players, you know, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano, Stevie, amazing players.
“We were unlucky not to win. It was very crucial but I'm happy that they (Liverpool) won the league, they won a lot of titles since then. I think it's slowly, slowly Liverpool become better and better and they won the league and a lot of other titles.
I'm sure the league is in the hands of Liverpool (this season). It's a shame they didn't win another trophy, the cup and the Champions League, but to win the league is the most important title in England.
“I think it's one of the best teams in Europe. Unfortunately, they lost to a great team like Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
“We watched from Israel, me and my family, the game also against Newcastle. We all loved (if) they had won the cup, but they lost it.
“But as I said before, the most important title is the league. I don't want to open it up, but they have a big gap between them to Arsenal and I'm sure they will do it.”
Benayoun was a popular player for Liverpool, scoring 29 goals and recording 20 assists from 134 appearances. But across three seasons, he was unable to win a trophy with the Reds - despite the Israeli’s best efforts.
He set up Fernando Torres in the Champions League semi-final defeat to Chelsea in 2008, and Lucas Leiva in the quarter-final exit to the same opposition the following year - having already scored a famous winner against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the previous round.
He’d also scored twice in a 4-4 draw with Arsenal that ultimately proved costly to Premier League title hopes only weeks after his late Fulham winner. Meanwhile, he recorded both his final goal and assist for the club in their cruel Europa League semi-final defeat to Atletico Madrid in April 2010 as they won 2-1 at Anfield but were eliminated on away goals AET.
It was perhaps ironic that he suffered such silverware disappointment after joining the side who had cost him his first trophy in English football a year before his switch to Anfield. He was a member of the West Ham United side that lost on penalties to Liverpool in the 2006 FA Cup final after a rollercoaster 3-3 draw.
Benayoun first became aware of the Reds’ interest in him after that cup final defeat, but was made to wait an additional year before completing a £5m switch to Anfield in July 2007 - only two months after he had verbally agreed a new long-term contract with the Hammers.
“It's actually after this game (the 2006 FA Cup final), that was the first time that… you know my agent called me and said that Liverpool are interested,” he confirmed. “And, of course, as soon as I knew that they really wanted me, I thought to myself ‘I must come and try to be in a big club’.
“It was the best decision of my career. It took time (to happen), but then West Ham survived in the league. I agreed a five-year new contract with West Ham, but when Liverpool came…
“I really enjoyed my time at West Ham. I think it's a great club but they understood my wish and they let me go in the end.”
Benayoun ultimately fell out of favour under Benitez at Liverpool and agreed a £5m switch to Chelsea in the summer of 2010, only to then see the Spaniard sacked. He still completed his exit to Stamford Bridge, but admits he had no desire to leave Liverpool, and only quit the club because of his former manager.
“Rafa brought me and he helped me a lot here for three years, but I felt in the end that I didn't get the credit that I deserved and I left because I thought Rafa would stay for one year,” he explained. “I spoke with him directly and I decided that if he stayed…
“I told him I didn't want to leave. I never wanted to leave Liverpool, but he told me that he would stay one more year so I had to leave. But a few days later he left.
“Now it's in the past and I'm happy and I'm privileged. I had the privilege to play for three years for the best club in the world.”
Benayoun would ironically be reunited with Benitez at Chelsea in 2012/13 after returning from a loan move to former club West Ham. He would then go on to win his only honour during his time in English football under the Spaniard as he was an unused substitute for their 2013 Europa League win over Benfica.
Yet the Israeli still feels the strongest allegiance to Liverpool, to the extent he declined the opportunity to represent both the Reds and Chelsea in last weekend’s legends match between the two at Anfield.
That match marked Benayoun’s first appearance at Liverpool’s famous ground since May 2010, where he started against future employers Chelsea as a 2-0 victory won them the Premier League title.
Given how the midfielder’s Reds career ended, it made his return to Anfield all these years later all the more special.
“You have a dream to play for big clubs like Liverpool and I was lucky to do it,” he said. “But to play at the age of almost 45, to come back and play at Anfield in front of a full stadium, I think it's a dream that you can not even dream. It’s amazing.”
