Vurnon Anita secured a draw for the Magpies after City striker Sergio Aguero put the away side ahead, but Benitez’s side remain 19th in the Premier League with only four games remaining.
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And the fixture captured the attention from all parts of the world for right and wrong reasons.
Aguero is the second-fastest player to reach the milestone, doing so in 147 games after arriving from Atletico Madrid.
Aguero was offside when the cross was supplied and assistant referee Dave Bryan drew the ire on social media for his failure to spot the infringement.
Newcastle had made a promising start in the game, but that evaporated in controversial circumstances as Aguero, from a clear offside position, headed Aleksandar Kolarov’s free-kick beyond Karl Darlow on 14 minutes.
Georginio Wijnaldumalso blew a golden opportunity to nick the win in the dying moments of the match, with Joe Hart pulling out a fantastic save to deny the winger in a one-on-one breakaway.
Both teams went into the halftime break deadlocked at 1-1. City’s point moves them to 61 points after 34 games, a point above Arsenal who play on Thursday night against West Brom.
The Magpies, who now lie three points adrift of safety in 19th spot, will be hoping summer signing Aleksandar Mitrovic can find the back of the net once more having scored three goals in his last four league outings.
Nonetheless, Newcastle recovered from the setback and Vurnon Anita equalised on the half hour with a low curling effort.
“Every season, it’s very close, you know this achievement you can do it with one point more or one point less”.
Pellegrini said: “I don’t vote so it’s hard for me to know why in four years he’s never been (among) the best players”.
Sterling said: “It’s very disappointing, We had the 1-0 advantage and for third place, we have probably got to defend it a little bit better, and that’s all of us as a group”.
“He’s second in the history of the Premier League, so I am happy for him and I hope he will continue the same way until the end of the season”.
Did City have one eye on the Champions League semi-final? Had they scored before that, then maybe the fans would have felt it could be another bad game.
Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling in action with Newcastle’s Chancel Mbemba.
And the former Liverpool player says that, while Manuel Pellegrini’s team are desperate to remain in the top four, finishing third is the real carrot the Citizens are after.
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He has 22 Premier League goals to his name so far this season, level with Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, but two behind Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane.
