Djibril Cissé, the £14 million France striker, was taken off on a stretcher late in the first half, in clear distress after an innocuous challenge from Jay McEveley left the Liverpool man catching his foot in the turf and with all available evidence pointing to him having suffered a badly broken leg.
The prolonged absence of a first-choice striker could prove a disastrous blow to a team still struggling badly to find consistency under Benítez, who did not replace Michael Owen after his early-season departure. The pairing of Cissé and Milan Baros had its many critics on Merseyside, but Baros and Neil Mellor? Baros and Florent Sinama Pongolle? Liverpool lost a lot more than two points at Ewood Park.
'I don't know what has happened to him,' said Benítez, head firmly in sand. 'I didn't talk to the doctor. I was concentrating on the game so I can't really talk about it. I didn't even see him because he had his hands covering his face and now he has gone to hospital. We will have to wait and see.'
Coincidentally, the corresponding fixture last season saw the teams of Graeme Souness and Gérard Houllier play out an ill-tempered game that left Jamie Carragher and Baros with broken leg and ankle respectively, losses that hindered Liverpool's season. Given a haul of just five points from an available 18 away from Anfield this season, the omens do not look optimistic for the Reds.
To add to their general air of anxiety, Liverpool's lack of defensive concentration was cruelly exposed, for both goals, by a Blackburn side looking to recover from successive 4-0 Premiership defeats.
First, Djimi Traoré failed to step up far enough, along with his defensive colleagues, as Paul Dickov's pass found Brett Emerton onside on the left wing in the 16th minute and the Australia midfielder's cross was turned in by Jay Bothroyd, a goal on his first league start for Rovers.
Then, halfway through the four minutes added on for Cissé's injury, Dickov found Barry Ferguson in the area, Sami Hyypia's tackle and poor clearance found Emerton just inside the area and Blackburn's most impressive performer curled an impressive finish past Chris Kirkland.
'We had to make a statement tonight,' said Rovers manager Mark Hughes. 'And I think the players have done that. We are not happy with where we are in the table, but there are reasons behind that. We've played all the top teams and that is a consideration that some people have chosen to overlook. Now we're entering a period against teams we'd like to think we could pick up points against.'
By all reasonable estimates, however, Blackburn should not have taken a point. the game opened with Liverpool looking bright - Friedel saving well from Cissé and at the feet of Baros - before they took the lead through John Arne Riise.
The goal owed its origin to a pass of staggering precision from Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso, whose 30-yard through-ball, allied with Riise's well-timed run, allowed the Norwegian to advance into the area and send an equally well-judged left-foot shot skidding past Friedel.
However, the defensive errors saw Liverpool required to come from behind to salvage the point, with Blackburn this time contributing to their own downfall. McEveley gave the ball away, Luis García freed Baros and the striker comfortably beat Craig Short, sprinting to within five yards of the goalline before slipping the ball past the advancing Friedel.
In a frantic finale, Harry Kewell and Riise came closest to a Liverpool winner with shots well blocked by Friedel, while Kirkland had to save impressively to keep out efforts from Short and, following another Hyypia mistake, Dickov. Rousing stuff but, for Liverpool, a costly night.