Rafael Benitez and Liverpool tied by eternal bond but former club blocks his path to safety

Rafael Benitez returns to Liverpool, the club he spent the most successful spell of his career with, when Newcastle United visit desperately seeking victory to boost their hopes of Premier League survival.

Rafael Benitez is running out of time to save Newcastle from relegation and next up is a trip to his former club Liverpool. Lindsey Parnaby / EPA

Rafael Benitez's last book was entitled Champions League Dreams. It is safe to assume the Spaniard will not be publishing a sequel called "Championship Dreams".

Demotion to the second tier represents the nightmare scenario, for Newcastle United and their manager alike. One who conquered Europe in 2005 could be ejected from England’s top flight.

The probability is that it would prompt Benitez to activate the break clause in his Newcastle contract. His time on Tyneside could be curtailed after 10 games.

The cruel possibility is that Liverpool, buoyed by a Merseyside derby thrashing, could catapult Benitez towards the exit on Saturday.

It was with Liverpool where Benitez orchestrated the greatest Uefa Champions League final of all, with Liverpudlians that he shares a bond that feels far greater than his tie with his fellow Madridistas, near Liverpool where he still lives.

Benitez spent six years managing Liverpool. He has spent the last six wandering, between Inter Milan and Chelsea and Napoli and Real Madrid and Newcastle, via spells of unemployment.

His association with Liverpool is indelible, his unions with others briefer and, in some cases, unhappy. He felt he left a legacy at Liverpool.

“I think we restored Liverpool to where it belongs, one of the greatest clubs in the world,” he wrote. He did, albeit briefly. Liverpool have rarely resembled one of the world’s top teams since his 2010 firing (or, indeed, in the previous season).

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That may change under Jurgen Klopp. But not, Benitez must hope, before he can secure a result that will enable him to spring a great escape.

Newcastle have games against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa left. They probably also require a surprise result, either at Anfield or at home to Tottenham Hotspur, to secure safety.

It looks unlikely but memories of Istanbul, and the 2005 Champions League final, are not the only proof the remarkable can happen.

Benitez has returned to Anfield once since his departure and it is a sign of his stature on Merseyside that many forgave him for taking interim charge of Chelsea.

That 2013 reunion is notable less for the scoreline — 2-2, which is often forgotten — than for the fact that Luis Suarez bit Branislav Ivanovic. Showing diplomacy towards his former club, Benitez claimed not to have seen it.

He saw rather more of Liverpool’s meetings with Newcastle when he was in the Merseysiders’ dugout. They tended to bring the best from Benitez’s team. They brought eight wins in 10 attempts, including an immaculate home record, and 25 goals.

It highlights Newcastle’s awful record at Anfield, where they have not won in 21 visits, losing 10 of the last 11; indeed, the current team have the wrong sort of 100 per cent record anywhere outside Tyneside in 2016, with 10 straight defeats on their travels.

Their relegation problems have tended to be compounded at Anfield. Their 2009 defeat, when Joey Barton was sent off, led to demotion. Their 2015 reverse, when Moussa Sissoko was red-carded, threatened to have the same impact.

Now Newcastle return with the self-same Sissoko set to captain them. Often cautious, Benitez took a calculated risk that he could harness the wayward Frenchman’s talent more effectively if he donned the armband.

If his relationship with his long-term skipper Steven Gerrard was rarely a meeting of mind, they represented a more logical duo.

But then relegation battles produce strange bedfellows: Benitez and Sissoko, Benitez and owner Mike Ashley, Benitez and Newcastle.

One noted for his meticulous preparation has plunged himself into an anarchic environment, one accustomed to challenging for trophies finds himself at a club without silverware since 1969 and himself in grave danger of demotion for the first time since 1999.

Benitez took a risk in going to Newcastle, perhaps hoping he could recreate what he had at Liverpool, a working-class port city, a club with untapped potential, a ground that can be among the most atmospheric and intimidating.

But do that, he has to keep Newcastle up. And Liverpool are standing in his way.

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