Super Eagles striker Victor Boniface has revealed that he and his Bayer Leverkusen teammates are not under pressure to replicate last season's performance next season, Soccernet.ng reports.
Bayer Leverkusen were the highlight of last season, following their stellar campaign that saw them go 51 unbeaten games. Before last season, Die Werkself were underachievers in Germany, as they had never won the Bundesliga title.
However, with Xabi Alonso as coach, the team unseated Bayern Munich as champions of Bundesliga. They also won the DFB Pokal after defeating Kaiserslautern in the final.
Unfortunately for them, they lost to Atalanta in the competition's final, and that was the only game they lost last season.
Next season, Bayer Leverkusen will be expected to produce a similar performance. But unlike last season, other teams will be more motivated to defeat them.
Nonetheless, Nigerian striker Boniface, who was an important part of the team with 21 goals and ten assists in 34 appearances last season, is not bothered by the outcome of next season.
The 23-year-old striker insists that he and his teammates take each game as it comes, although they still want to do well next season.
“The funniest thing is that we have not had a conversation about next season yet. But one thing I noticed about this team is that we take things step by step,” Boniface said on the Counter attack podcast.
“Right now, we have the Super Cup final against Stuttgart, but no one is talking about it. Everybody's focus is on the friendly games against Arsenal and Lens, so everyone is focused on those games.
“We go game by game. But in the back if our mind, we know that everyone will want to beat us because of what we achieved last season, and it's not going to be easy.
“We know what we did last year, what we gave to the fans and what we gave to the club. The feeling was so good, and each of us want to have that same feeling again next season.
“We enjoyed what happened, how we made history and were celebrated by the club. And everyone that witnessed it wants to witness more. I'm ready to give 100 percent to achieve what we achieved last year, and I'm sure it's the same for the rest of the players.”
Bayer Leverkusen play against Stuttgart in the German Super Cup on August 17. That will be their first game of the season before kicking off their Bundesliga campaign with an away fixture at Borussia Monchengladbach.
