Super Eagles striker, Victor Boniface was on the scoresheet as Bayer 04 Leverkusen put five past Werder Bremen at the Bay Arena to win their first-ever Bundesliga title, Soccernet.ng reports.
Die Werkself‘s head coach, Xabi Alonso, included Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella in his starting eleven, with the former making his first start for Leverkusen for the first time since December due to an adductor injury.
The deadlock was broken in the 25th minute. Julian Malatini fouled Jonas Hofmann in Werder’s box, leading to a penalty. Boniface stepped up, sending his penalty into the right side of Zetterer’s goal for his 11th league goal this term.
The home side doubled the lead on the hour mark. Boniface led the counterattack before laying a pass to Granit Xhaka who was just outside the box. The former Arsenal man curled the ball into the top-left corner with his left foot to send the crowd wild.
Florian Wirtz came on at the start of the second half, picking the perfect occasion to grab his first-ever career hat-trick. He hit the back of the net with a belter from outside the box in the 65th minute, leaving Zetterer no chance.
Wirtz scored the game’s fourth after a brilliant through-ball from Exequiel Palacios found him in space as the Werder defenders pushed up. The 20-year-old had space and time to side-foot his shot into the net to put Bayer four up.
The fans ran onto the pitch with seven minutes to spare as they couldn’t retain their sheer delight, but the players pleaded with them to return to the stands to prevent further sanctions.
Wirtz completed the route in the game’s final minute, cushioning the ball home from a well-crafted cross by Alejandro Grimaldo.
WE DID IT! 😍🏆#Winnerkusen #DeutscherMeisterSVB pic.twitter.com/jdMkQArDO5
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) April 14, 2024
Boniface and Tella join Sunday Oliseh and Pascal Ojigwe as the Nigerian players to have lifted the Meisterschale. Ojigwe won the Bundesliga with Kaiserslautern in the 1997/98 season while Sunday Oliseh won the title with Borussia Dortmund in the 2001/02 season.
