Nigerian striker Victor Boniface scored the opening goal and assisted in another as Bayer Leverkusen humbled Werden Bremen 5-0 to clinch their first-ever Bundesliga title in style on Sunday at the BayArena.
Xabi Alonso’s men sealed the title with five matches left to play, ending Bayern Munich’s 11-year reign in the process, and now have the chance to become the first side to go unbeaten in an entire Bundesliga season.
Boniface was making his first start for the club since recovering from a groin surgery, which kept him out since January, and he made it count by converting a penalty in the 25th minute to open the scoring in the historic win. The penalty was won by Jonas Hofmann after Nathan Tella’s dangerous cross into the box.
The 23-year-old then assisted former Arsenal man Granit Xhaka for the second goal, while second-half substitute Florian Wirtz scored a hat-trick to complete the rout.
Boniface and his compatriot, Tella, who was handed a place in the starting line-up ahead of Jeremie Frimpong, have now joined former Super Eagles midfielders Sunday Oliseh and Pascal Ojigwe as the Nigerians to have won the Bundesliga title.
Oliseh won it with Borussia Dortmund in the 2001/02 season, while Ojigwe achieved the feat as a Kaiserslautern player in 1997/98. However, he was not given a medal despite featuring in a few matches.
Boniface and Tella joined Leverkusen in the summer and have made an instant impact on Alonso’s team. Boniface joined from Belgium side Union SG for €20 million, with an additional €7.5 million in add-ons, while Tella was signed for £20 million from Southampton after powering Burnley to the EPL last season with 19 goals in the Championship.
Despite missing four months of action due to injury, Boniface’s goal-scoring prowess has been instrumental to Leverkusen’s title race, taking his tally to 11 goals and nine assists in 18 Bundesliga appearances (18 goals and 10 assists in 27 games across all competitions).
Tella was also crucial to their run, especially during Boniface’s absence, contributing five goals and two assists in 19 Bundesliga appearances.
Having brought home the German top-flight title for the first time in the club’s 120-year history, Boniface and Tella could help Leverkusen to a treble, with the DFB-Pokal and UEFA Europa League both still up for grabs as well.(Punch)
