Aleksandar Mitrovic failed to find the back of the net for Fulham against Newcastle, and fans can now breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Benitez’s transfer dealings were put under the microscope during an intense match, as the manager had let Mitrovic go for £22m in the summer.
His decision to replace the forward with Salomon Rondon was criticised by some Newcastle fans earlier in the season.
The critics became louder after Mitrovic’s strong start to the season, with five goals in his first six matches.
He’s been much less effective as the season has progressed, but there was still worries he would come back to haunt Benitez on Saturday.
MORE NEWCASTLE STORIES
But with the stage set for The Serbian to cause a huge upset, he ended up fluffing his lines.
Lucky escape for Benitez?
Despite being essentially anonymous for most of the game, Mitrovic almost stole the headlines in the dying stages.
The striker was incredibly unlucky not to latch onto an awful back pass from Jamaal Lascelles just before stoppage time.
Martin Dubravka got to the ball first but almost made a fool of himself as Mitro managed to get a foot in as the keeper tried out his stepovers.
The Serbian got a second bite of the cherry just minutes later as he was fed in on goal with Dubravka out of position.
But a superb block from Lascelles denied the former Newcastle man.
Mitrovic will know he should have scored, and Benitez will be incredibly grateful for his captain’s heroics.
Fans react to Mitrovic performance
