Victor Boniface is becoming more and more of a terror to opposing defenses in the Bundesliga. The 22-year-old Nigerian once paved the way for a resounding success for Bayer Leverkusen, scoring more than twice. The Werkself won 5-1 (1-1) against newly promoted Darmstadt 98 and really turned up the heat, especially in the second half.
“He brings physicality and is difficult to defend,” sporting director Simon Rolfes praised the new Bayer goalscorer Boniface on the Sky TV channel, who has already scored four goals after three games.
The fact that Bayer didn’t want to let the “lilies” out of their grasp in the second 45 minutes was coach Xabi Alonso’s approach. “We just wanted to put more pressure on in the second half and become more dangerous, especially in the last third. The team is very ambitious and focused,” said Rolfes.
Kisses from Alonso
Alonso enjoyed the clear victory against the Hessians, distributed kisses and applause in the direction of the stands. He was celebrated with the players in front of the fan block. “Front runner, front runner, hey, hey,” chanted the Bayer supporters.
Boniface (21st/61st), who had scored twice last week in the 3-0 win in Mönchengladbach, as well as Exequiel Palacios (49th), international Jonas Hofmann (67th) and Adam Hlozek (83rd) shot in front of 30,210 spectators the goals of the favorites in the sold-out BayArena.
Bayer won all three opening games in the Bundesliga for only the third time in the club’s history after 2003 and 2013. Oscar Vilhelmsson scored the equalizer for the guests (25′).
Led by the control center around Granit Xhaka and DFB player Florian Wirtz, Bayer combined effortlessly through the ranks of the Darmstadt team in the early minutes. However, the lead was strange: Guest captains Fabian Holland and Fabian Nürnberger clashed after their own corner, Boniface had almost a clear path from the middle line and completed the lead with a fine lob over “Lilien” keeper Marcel Schuhen.
But the underdog answered promptly. Christoph Klarer extended a free kick from Holland to the second post, Vilhelmsson only had to head in.
Leverkusen were briefly impressed, with Jonathan Tah, Palacios and Xhaka, three central Bayer players saw yellow cards early on in the game. Leverkusen remained superior to the field and, apart from a long-range shot from Xhaka (34th), which forced Schuhn to make a brilliant save, had little to offer offensively until the break.
The second round was unchanged. Leverkusen shifted up a gear – and scored immediately: Palacios had too much space from 15 meters out, his shot was deflected by two Darmstadt players and was therefore not to be taken for shoes.
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This time the guests could not answer. Instead, the strong Boniface converted a fine pass from Wirtz, Hofmann finally made everything clear on submission of the extremely strong center forward from Nigeria. Hlozek put the finishing touches.
