His 10 goals made a major contribution to Santos winning the Clausura 2008 title, and his personal reward was selection as best player of the season.

[4] On 3 June 2009, Birmingham City announced the signing of Benítez on a three-year contract for an undisclosed club record transfer fee, which press reports speculated to be in the region of £6 million rising to £9m.

[20][21] While recovering from shoulder surgery and awaiting his visa, Benítez played in an all-star match in Ecuador without asking the club's permission.

[22] He made his debut as a second-half substitute in Birmingham's opening match of the season, a 1–0 defeat at Manchester United, and came close to equalising, drawing a "wonderful one-handed diving save" from Ben Foster.

[23] His first Premier League start came against Hull City on 19 September; he played a key role in a 1–0 win and "could have had a hat-trick but for the supreme goalkeeping of Boaz Myhill".

[24] Benítez scored his first goal for the Blues on 9 November away to Liverpool, with a close-range header after Scott Dann had nodded the ball on, in a game which finished 2–2.

[25] He scored the first of what manager Alex McLeish described as "two classy goals" as Birmingham knocked Everton out of the FA Cup at Goodison Park.

[26] However, after his season produced only four goals and Birmingham's attempt to renegotiate the agreed transfer fee was unsuccessful, the club chose not to take up their option to purchase, and the player returned to Santos Laguna.

[27][28] On 21 July 2010, Benítez signed a new three-year deal with Santos Laguna,[29] in the first tournament after his return he was the top goalscorer with 16 goals.

[30] He made his debut in a match against Qatar SC in the Sheikh Jassim Cup on 28 July "without complaining of any health problems", according to El Jaish officials.

Although considered by many as a surprise selection by coach Luis Fernando Suárez, he had impressed with his speed, elusiveness and skill in pre-World Cup showings against the Netherlands and Japan, in addition to his 2006 Copa Libertadores experience.

Then, in April 2007, he scored another goal against Peru in Ecuador's 2–0 win in a friendly match held in the Mini Estadi in Barcelona, Spain.

According to Miguel Herrera and other teammates in an interview with Mexican morning show Matutino Express, he did not receive immediate medical attention and a few hours later, Benítez went into respiratory failure.

[38][39] Tens of thousands of people filed past the body, which lay in a glass-topped casket in the Coliseo General Rumiñahui in Quito, before the public funeral ceremony, which was attended by sporting and political figures including the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa.

[3] FIFA regulations required Ecuador to reinstate number 11 to their squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil; it was allocated to Felipe Caicedo.