Tag: Boniface

Super Eagles attacker, Victor Boniface scored a goal as Bayer Leverkusen thumped Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 to remain atop the German Bundesliga table.

The Nigerian bagged his 15th goal of the season from 22 games in all competitions including nine goals from 15 league games when he scored the game’s first goal in the 14th minute. Jeremie Frimpong got the second goal in the 51st  minute before Boniface supplied the assist for the third goal in the 57th  minute. It was scored by Florian Wirtz.

Bayer Leverkusen opened up a four point gap over second placed Bayern Munich with 39 points.

In England, Brentford suffered a 2-1 home loss to Aston Villa with the Super Eagles midfielder, Frank Onyeka having a cameo appearance in the fixture played at the GTech Stadium.

Read Also; Artificial Intelligence: What teachers and students need to know

Onyeka came on in the 68th  minute for Mikkel Damsgaard but he was unable to save the Bees from the late collapse at home.

Elsewhere, Super Eagles striker  Sadiq Umar was a second half substitute in Real Sociedad goalless draw at home to Real Betis. He was introduced in the 58th  minute for Andre Silva.

Sociedad are in the sixth spot with 30 points from 17 games.

Forgotten Super Eagles striker, Isaac Success was introduced in the 90th  minute as Lorenzo Lucca’s replacement in Udinese’s 2-2 home draw with Sassuolo.

Simon Moses played 90 minutes as Nantes fell 2-0 to Brest while Adams Akor was not on the scorer chart as Montpellier beat Metz 1-0 away.

Kelechi Nwakali provided an assist but his Portuguese club, Chaves were beaten 3-1 at home by Casa Pia AC.

Bayer Leverkusen have cruised to the quarter final of the DFB Cup with their Super Eagles attacker, Victor Boniface on the score sheet as they thrashed Paderborn 3-1 yesterday.

Boniface who featured in his 20th  game of the season in all competitions scored his team’s first goal in the 12th  minute before further goals from Palacios and Patrik Schick in the 28th  and 87th  minutes. Before Bayer Leverkusen’s third goal, Paderborn had reduced the goals arrears through Sebastian Klaas in the 83rd   minute before Schick’s goal hushed them to silence.

Read Also: Joshua warned over fight against Wilder

Boniface who recently debuted for the Super Eagles has played in 20 games this season with 14 goals and six assists in all competitions.

His eight goals in the league from 13 games have helped to keep Bayer Leverkusen atop the German Bundesliga table ahead of serial champions, Bayern Munich.

Boniface was replaced in the 75th minute by Schick while his teammate also in the national team and at club level, Nathan Tella was a late introduction in the game. He replaced Jeremie Frimpong in the 91st minute.

Victor Boniface will face a very stiff competition to hold on to the Bundesliga Rookie of the Month Award for November.

The Bayer Leverkusen striker has won the award consecutively for the past three months. He has also been nominated for the November award, but will have to contend with Xavi Simmons of RB Leipzig for the prestigious gong.

Simmons, 20, scored twice in the month under review and leads the Bundesliga with seven assists, while the goals dried up for Victor Boniface and he could only provide two assists.

Merlin Rohl of Freiburg is the other nominee for this award.

Yet the organisers noted that the 22-year-old striker has made the Rookie of the Month award his own this year, adding that the former Union Saint-Gilloise striker is  back again for a fourth attempt in November, despite not scoring last month.

Read Also: Leverkusen /Dortmund draw: Boniface  makes Werkself’s scoring  record

Instead, he chipped in with two assists in the 3-2 win away at Hoffenheim on Matchday 10. The Nigerian was his usual shot-happy self with 11 attempts, but he is much more than just a classic centre-forward. He also set up three attempts for teammates, meaning he was directly involved in a shot on goal every 18 minutes on average.

Regarded as a complete striker, Boniface, as well as taking and teeing up shots, also gets stuck into challenges, winning 52 percent of duels in November.

 “He’s an important factor with his physicality, holding up the ball and creating space for his teammates,” said sporting director Simon Rolfes.

 The 1.90m-tall Nigerian did get on the scoresheet away from the Bundesliga last month, ensuring Leverkusen’s progress to the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League as group winners with a 1-0 win over Qarabag in Azerbaijan. 

• Grandma watched Nigerian ace at Bay Arena 

Victor Boniface has now been credited with the  second  best  goal ratio at Bayer Leverkusen after he secured his 13th goal of the season in the 1-1  draw against Dortmund.

On Sunday, the burly striker  found the back of the net in the Bundesliga again after a run of five league games without scoring and – having also struck in the Europa League away to Häcken .

It was his eighth Bundesliga goal this season, that total 13 goals in all competitions (a goal in the German Cup, with four others in the  Europa League).

Leverkusen’s coach Javier Alonso described the match as a hard-fought tie even as he praised his team for securing a draw:

“It wasn’t an easy game. We tried a lot after conceding. We didn’t have any chances despite having loads of control. At half-time we said we had to change things round right way. One point isn’t bad, but it could have been more. It was a good test of patience after conceding the goal. We wanted to retain control despite going behind. It was a good lesson.”

According to the Werkself, Boniface, currently with eight goals , is now the second player to have the most goals in the first 13 Bundesliga games of the season since records started being kept in 2004/05; behind Argentine Diego Rodolfo Placente who had 14 goals in his first 13  goals.   

Read Also: Boniface snatches Leverkusen’s  equaliser  against Dortmund

In a related development,  Boniface’s grandmother was reportedly in the stands on Sunday at the Bay Arena to watch  the Nigerian ace score his 13th goal of the season.

Super Eagles striker, Victor Okoh Boniface, had his grandmother in the stands as she watched on in Leverkusen’s game against Borussia Dortmund,

According to Soccernet.ng, the 22-year-old Nigerian striker introduced his  grandmother to his teammates, Granit Xhaka and Edmond Tapsoba .

While Xhaka shook hands with her and posed for a picture, taken by Boniface, Tapsoba opened his arms wide and welcomed her, before Boniface and his grandmother walked out of the conference area.

A goal from Nigeria striker Victor Boniface with 11 minutes remaining earned Bayer Leverkusen a 1-1 home draw with Borussia Dortmund  yesterday keeping the league leaders’ unbeaten record this season intact.

Dortmund scored just five minutes in through Julian Ryerson and the visitors looked set to be the first side this season to beat Leverkusen in any competition.

With the clock running down, Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso brought Patrik Schick from the bench and the move paid immediate dividends, with the Czech attacker finding Boniface for the equaliser.

An “unhappy” Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz told DAZN “even if we managed to equalize, when you see the match we would have hoped for better and we should have done better.”

Dortmund manager Edin Terzic praised his team’s defence in the “fair result”, but hit out at VAR, who declined to intervene despite what seemed like a late foul on winger Karim Adeyemi.

 “We discuss VAR every week, we discuss clear wrong decisions, about handball and foul play, but that wasn’t enough?” Terzic said of the incident. “That’s what really upsets me, because it is not fair.”

The draw means Leverkusen end the round three points ahead of Bayern Munich on the ladder, although the Bavarians have a game in hand after Saturday’s match with Union Berlin was postponed due to heavy snowfall.

Telling reporters his players “did enough to win”, Alonso said his team, who have won 18 and drawn two of their 20 matches this season, needed to “be realistic” about the result.

 “We know what we’ve done until now and we know what we must do. The path is clear and the players are totally convinced of the way forward.”

Alonso made eight changes to the XI which won 2-0 at Swedish side Hacken on Thursday, which secured them top spot in their Europa League group.

Coming into the match 10 points behind Leverkusen after just 12 matches, Dortmund were hit with a pre-match wave of the flu, ruling out several first teamers including Donyell Malen, Niklas Suele and Ramy Bensebaini.

Fresh from Tuesday’s 3-1 win at AC Milan which secured progress to the Champions League knockouts, Dortmund burst out of the blocks, taking the lead after just five minutes through Ryerson.

With his back to goal, Niclas Fuellkrug held the ball up perfectly before back-heeling to Ryerson, who threaded the ball into the goal.

Read Also: CCC:  Dreams FC dims Rivers United in Kumasi

Leverkusen turned up the heat for the remainder of the opening half but could not find an equaliser, Wirtz’s 45th -minute stunner being ruled out by VAR for a narrow offside.

Dortmund held firm amid relentless Leverkusen pressure in the second-half, before Alonso sent on Schick, who had only played one minute in the league this season.

The Czech striker helped Leverkusen equalize less than a minute later, sliding a ball through the Dortmund defence to Boniface, who tapped home from close range.

Earlier on Sunday, a second-half goal from Austria striker Michael Gregoritsch took Freiburg to a narrow 1-0 win at struggling Mainz.

Denied twice by the post early in the match, the 1.93-metre-tall Austrian scored with 20 minutes remaining, hammering in on the turn to give his side the lead, his first league goal since May.

Mainz’s Leandro Barreiro was inches away from an equaliser with just a minute remaining, but the visitors cleared the danger.

The win, Freiburg’s first in the league since October, sends the Europa League participants into eighth place while Mainz remain mired in the relegation zone.’

• Fans to pay N1000, N2000, N5000

In form Bayer Leverkusen striker  Victor Boniface  is  bullish that the  Super Eagles will start their  2026 FIFA  World Cup  qualifier against  Lesotho  on a winning note when both  sides face off today at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.

Drawn in a tricky group C that  also  house Rwanda, Zimbabwe, South Africa and  Benin  Republic,  the Super Eagles  are  heavily  favoured  to  grab the maximum points  to kick  start their campaign in a positive way.

Yet  Boniface  said the  Super Eagles would  leave nothing to chance  against the  battle-hardened visitors,  adding  he would  be at the ready to give his best to ensure  victory  for the home side.

“Me? I’m ready  and  focussed  (for the match against Lesotho); we are determined  and tomorrow (today)  we see what  we can do, “ the 22-year-old  striker told NFFTV. “ The trainings have been good; we have had two  short trainings  for the game but it’s been good  and the players are  focussed.”

Read Also: Victor Boniface: I’m a classic striker

The former Royale Union Saint-Gilloise striker who has been a  scoring sensation  in the Bundesliga  with a remarkable  seven goals  in 10  matches  in the ongoing campaign, further promised  to  give the fans  plenty to cheer about  as he enjoined Nigerians to  lend their support to the  team  against  the Crocodiles of Lesotho.

 “I’ll try to do my best and give 100 percent  and  for  sure, we must  try and win the game which is the most important thing ”  he noted.“ I can’t wait to see you guys (fans) at the  stadium  to come and give us their support.”

Meanwhile, prices for three categories of tickets for the  encounter  between Nigeria and Lesotho  have been confirmed .

The  General Coordinator of the Local Organizing Committee, Elder Paul Bassey, was quoted as saying that  the regular ticket for the popular stand would be sold for N1,000, the VIP tickets will go for N2,000 while the VVIP tickets are pegged at N5,000.

Super Eagles striker Victor Boniface registered two assists for Bayer Leverkusen in their 3-2 victory over Hoffenheim at PreZero Arena, Soccernet reports.

Boniface was benched in midweek when Bayer Leverkusen thrashed Sandhausen 5-2 in the DFB Pokal. However, coach Xabi Alonso returned him to the starting lineup when Bayer Leverkusen visited Hoffenheim on Saturday.

It was yet another superb performance for Boniface. In addition to his two assists, the 22-year-old Super Eagles star had 33 touches and won four of his seven duels in his 88 minutes on the pitch.

Read Also: Karim Adeyemi: Why I’m Supporting Nigerian Youths

Die Werkself were the favourites to win, and they showed their quality early on. Florian Wirtz, who has been in rich form this season, combined well with Victor Boniface in the box and sent a low strike into the net to claim the lead for Bayer Leverkusen. Then, Alejandro Grimaldo scored the second in the 45th minute after he converted a superb shot from outside the box.

However, Leverkusen capitulated in the second half, conceding twice courtesy strikes from Anton Stach and Wout Weghorst.

But Alonso’s lads were not undone. In the 70th minute, Boniface wreaked havoc again. He set up Grimaldo with a perfectly weighted pass, and the Spaniard struck the ball with venom from the edge of the box. The ball just crept into the Hoffenheim net to give Leverkusen the lead again.