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September 16, 2024
Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso praises Victor Boniface but emphasizes that he needs to put in more effort when the team is out of possession.
Boniface played a key role in Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-1 victory over Hoffenheim on Saturday, providing the assist for the first goal and scoring two himself.
This marked the Nigerian international’s first goal of the season. After the match, Alonso noted that Boniface’s second goal was “very important for the striker’s confidence and mood.”
Alonso is looking forward to “the best from Boni” this season, especially after Boniface’s second half last season was disrupted by a tendon injury that kept him out from January to March.
As Alonso mentioned, it’s “always difficult for defenders to play against” Boniface, but he insists that the striker needs to work harder defensively. “He can and must do more. He knows it and the team needs it,” the Spaniard stressed during the post-match press conference.
Bayer Leverkusen and Nigeria striker Victor Boniface said Xabi Alonso has a particular advantage over other coaches on the training pitch.
“Imagine you’re training and your coach is doing better than you,” Boniface told AFP in an interview.
“Then you want to step up your game.
“For him to be involved in training gives us a boost,” Boniface said of Alonso, who “has won everything that can be won in football.”
“Sometimes he tells me of players he played with, with similar abilities to me. He tries to improve me in my weakest areas.”
Leverkusen hosted third-placed Stuttgart on Saturday, knowing they were four games away from becoming the first team to go through an unbeaten Bundesliga season.
Their runs to the German Cup final, where they face second-division Kaiserslautern, and Europa League semi-finals, where they take on Roma, mean they have gone 45 games unbeaten in all competitions this season.
Boniface, 23, was born in the southern Nigerian city of Akure and told AFP he was “always” a football fan.
Earlier this month, he coolly dispatched a penalty to open the scoring in the 5-0 home rout of Werder Bremen, which made Leverkusen Bundesliga champions for the first time.
Leverkusen had never previously won a league title in their 120-year history.
The club’s record of second-placed finishes — often somehow snatching defeat from the jaws of victory — saw them tainted with the unwanted ‘Neverkusen’ moniker, but Boniface said he was not nervous when he took the spot-kick.
“No. To be honest, I didn’t feel pressure. We’re football players.
“Moments like this — I took the responsibility to help the team. That’s why I’m here. I love penalties.”
The pressure of a spot-kick pales compared to some of the struggles Boniface has already endured in his young career.
He moved from Nigeria to Norway at 18, signing with Bodo/Glimt.
Despite playing a part in the club’s first-ever Norwegian title in 2020, he tore his ACL twice and later said he considered quitting the game.
After a successful stint with Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, he moved to Leverkusen last July, receiving his first Super Eagles call-up earlier this season, which he called “a dream come true”.
He scored 16 goals in his first 23 games but was injured again while preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria. He missed four months, including his country’s run to the final, where they lost to hosts Ivory Coast.
“It was really difficult when I got injured. When I got injured, in my head I said ‘OK, I’m missing AFCON, I’m going to miss a lot of games for Leverkusen.’
“During that time it was difficult for me, but I have my teammates and a club which takes care of me.
“It’s difficult but at the same time it’s just football. There are good moments and bad — it’s just how you take it.”
Many have tipped Boniface for the top, and he already has one essential ingredient: a signature celebration.
“To be honest, it doesn’t mean anything,” Boniface said of his swaggering, finger-pointing celebration.
After scoring an equaliser in Belgium, he was being chased by a teammate and the striker “was just trying to do something really funny”.
“I saw the clip and thought — this is nice. It’s a funny celebration.”
Boniface was seen partying alongside his teammates well into the night after winning the title, but he also took the time to tell thousands of fans gathered on the stadium grass that the season was not over.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to switch out of party mood,” Boniface said, admitting “the guys who were drinking, I think some of them had a little bit of a tough day the next day at training.”
Boniface said confidently “with this team, we can do something”, but refused to look past the next challenge.
“Right now, I don’t think anyone is talking about Roma in the dressing room. We are focus on the game on Saturday.
“After the Stuttgart game, we can focus on Roma.”
Boniface admits to being a childhood Arsenal fan but said he was not thinking longer term either.
“Right now my full focus is on Leverkusen and being ready to try and achieve more good things with the club.”
He does however look forward to playing in the Champions League with Leverkusen, saying “it will be one of the proudest moments for me.”
Bayern Munich has been dealt another injury setback, as Sacha Boey will be out for several weeks due to a knee injury.
On Monday, the club confirmed that Boey, the French right-back, suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee during training on Sunday and has already undergone surgery.
This injury creates a challenge for Bayern at right-back, especially with Josip Stanisic also unavailable until November. Additionally, they are missing versatile defender Hiroki Ito, who recently sustained a broken foot after his transfer from Stuttgart.
Tarek Buchmann, Arijon Ibrahimovic, and Daniel Peretz are also sidelined due to injuries.
Boey played in Bayern’s 6-1 victory over Holstein Kiel on Saturday. The team kicks off its Champions League campaign on Tuesday with a home match against Dinamo Zagreb.
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Katarzyna Nowak is a seasoned writer with over five years of experience in editorial content, news reporting, and cricket sportsbook app reviews. As an author for Latest Football News, she combines her deep understanding of the sports betting industry with a passion for cricket, delivering insightful and accurate content that keeps readers informed and engaged.
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