A difficult month followed, during which there were rumblings about the Spaniard's future - and then the Liverpool board delivered Fernando Torres, at which point the climate improved dramatically.
Torres was not BenÍtez's first choice to fill the vacancy for a star name in the Anfield forward line - with Samuel Eto'o, of Barcelona, having been his ambitious first target - but the Liverpool manager is more than happy with the early signs from his £20.2 million record signing. Fears of difficulties adapting to English football have seemingly dissipated with three goals in his first five Barclays Premier League appearances and in Oporto this evening he will hope to make a similar first impression on the Champions League, a tournament that was the preserve of his aristocratic neighbours when he was playing for Atlético Madrid.
"This is one of the reasons why Torres wanted to come to Liverpool," BenÍtez said. "He wanted to play in Europe. He is ready mentally for this because when you play in the Premier League you are ready to play in Europe. He is 23 and that's young. The problem with Fernando is that he has been playing for Atlético Madrid since he was 17 and he has been waiting and waiting to play in Europe. Now he has this chance."
It is a tournament to which players of a certain temperament, not to mention quality, can take like a duck to water. Torres, blessed with rare intelligence as well as the pace and skills to unlock the best defences, would appear to fit the bill, but goals are not always easy to come by. Whereas Peter Crouch started eight European matches en route to last season's final and scored seven times, Dirk Kuyt did not score in ten starts until his 89th-minute consolation goal in the final against Milan in Athens.
It is likely to be Torres and Kuyt working in tandem in attack this evening against a team who are unbeaten in nine matches at home to English opposition. FC Porto are not the force they were when they won the Champions League in 2004, when Manchester United were among their victims, but, having won the Portuguese championship for the past two seasons, they appear finally to have proved that there is life after José Mourinho.
Much of Porto's success is based on unearthing new talent in Eastern Europe, Africa and South America, with BenÍtez going out of his way to praise their scouting operation yesterday, but perhaps their biggest threat is a Portuguese player who is thriving in his homeland after a difficult spell at Barcelona early in his career.
Ricardo Quaresma is a man to watch, with BenÍtez having identified him as a solution to Liverpool's left-wing problem in the summer before being frightened off by the £20 million valuation and moving his attention to Ryan Babel. That left-wing position was the one that appeared to be up for grabs as Liverpool trained in the Estádio do Dragão last night, with John Arne Riise missing because of a groin injury. Fabio Aurélio, who is fit again after five months out with a ruptured Achilles tendon, was in contention, along with Babel and the more experienced Yossi Benayoun.
As for the rest of the midfield, BenÍtez may be tempted to reunite Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso in the middle and push Steven Gerrard to the right, but such a move would not indicate the captain is being marginalised. "He can play in every position, but is more comfortable in the middle and that's my idea for the rest of the season," BenÍtez said.
FC Porto v Liverpool
Champions League Group A
Kick off: 7.45pm
Dragão Stadium
Key clash Ricardo Quaresma v Steve Finnan
- Rafael Benitez, like Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho before him, thought long and hard about buying Quaresma this summer. Eventually he opted for Ryan Babel, but the Portugal winger, fast, skilful and with a tendency to drift inside his marker, is certainly among the most feared wingers in Europe. Liverpool will hope that, in the vastly under rated Finnan, they have the man to keep him quiet
- Ricardo Quaresma tends to start on the left wing for Porto in a 4-3-3 system but often switches to the right, as shown by his touches in the match away to Chelsea in the Champions League last March. He is likely to be marked by Steve Finnan and Alvaro Arbeloa, Liverpool's right back and left back respectively, although the English side have the option of using a man-marker, such as Javier Mascherano