Super Eagles striker Victor Boniface scored his first goal of the year in Bayer Leverkusen's 2-0 victory over West Ham in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League, Soccernet.ng reports.
It was a tie that was heavily dominated by Bayer Leverkusen, as they had 65% of the possession and 33 shots on goal. However, they had to wait until the dying minutes of the game before they got the lead, and the two goalscorers were substitutes.
Jonas Hofmann scored in the 83rd minute before Boniface added the second three minutes later. The goal was Boniface's first of the year, and he was clearly elated. However, the Super Eagles striker did not perform his usual celebration where he would perform a funny run and jump with a fist pump. Instead, he ran to the advertisement board and sat on it- a celebration popularly associated with West Ham star Mohammed Kudus.
https://twitter.com/mo_bolaji_/status/1778546549192028402?t=tvt7EXctPeQOeqT_o18W4w&s=19
https://twitter.com/footballontnt/status/1778533061044601055?t=qpIjiG-oDSGtkYp5lrE8cw&s=19
This celebration could have been to mock Kudus because of the rivalry between Ghana and Nigeria. This is as Boniface has been a proponent of the rivalry on X(formerly known as Twitter). Nonetheless, the Super Eagles star never had an altercation with Kudus.
With just a two-goal margin between both sides, the second leg is sure to be a spectacle because West Ham would be looking to cancel Bayer Leverkusen's advantage. With Boniface's recent goal, he might start against West Ham next week. Kudus has been a regular for the Hamners, and he could go up against Boniface again.
eagles team list confirmed
1 nwabali
2 okoye
3 onyeka
4 oshimen
5. lookman
6 Boniface
7 ajayi
8 tella
9 orban drafted as 10 shirt
10 ndidi
11 chukeze
12 aina
13 ekong
new coach already pencilled down the names of core. team least . monitoring going on with technical support from clubs