With his team losing 2-1 and Robbie Fowler misfiring in front of goal on his last appearance at Anfield, the manager decided to substitute the former England forward after 88 minutes. Fowler had come close to adding to his tally of 183 Liverpool goals, but Benítez must have sensed that it was not going to be his day.
Fowler trudged off, Anfield gave him a standing ovation and, a minute later, Liverpool were awarded a penalty in front of the Kop. A chant of "Bring back Fowler" rang around the stadium, but the forward could only watch from the substitutes' bench as Harry Kewell stole his thunder by scoring from the penalty spot.
"My timing was not the best," Benítez said. "It was back luck for Robbie, but the idea was for him to get an ovation from the crowd as he left the pitch. Perhaps I should have waited a bit longer because the day was for Robbie."
Meaningless fixtures do not exist at Anfield - in the red part of Merseyside there is always something to look forward to and something to remember. More than 40,000 Liverpool supporters are expected to travel to Athens for the Champions League final against AC Milan a week on Wednesday, but if BenÍtez's team play like they did against Charlton Athletic, it is likely to be a waste of time and money.
Liverpool were lucky to be losing only 1-0 after an hour. Matt Holland's close-range strike gave Charlton the perfect start after two minutes and Zheng Zhi and Darren Bent wasted clear opportunities to increase the lead soon after the interval.
Xabi Alonso made Charlton pay for their profligacy by scoring soon after coming on as a second-half substitute, but Bent swept Charlton back into the lead after Daniele Padelli, Liverpool's third-choice goalkeeper, deflected a low strike by Ben Thatcher into his path.
Kewell had the final word from the penalty spot after Madjid Bougherra was judged to have handled in the area, but as Fowler soaked up the acclaim of the crowd on a lap of honour after the final whistle, it felt more like a missed opportunity than an emotional farewell.
Fowler will get one last chance - probably as a substitute - to play in front of the supporters who call him "God" next week in Greece and, given Liverpool's record in finals, only a brave man would bet against him lifting the European Cup and signing off in style. "It was not a good game for us," Benítez said. "But, on the positive side, we have finished third in the Premiership and we did not pick up any injuries."