Nigerian born striker Victor Boniface scored a dramatic stoppage-time goal, securing a thrilling 4-3 victory for Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen against Wolfsburg on Sunday, following Borussia Dortmund’s humiliating 5-1 defeat to Stuttgart.
The match between Leverkusen and Wolfsburg was tightly contested, remaining at 3-3 since the 48th minute. Wolfsburg faced a setback late in the game when Yannick Gerhardt received a red card for a foul on Jeremie Frimpong, leaving his team with ten players.
Boniface, who was subbed in at the 68th minute, received a pass, turned sharply, and struck the ball into the net, clinching another late win for the German champions and providing a morale boost ahead of their upcoming match against Bayern Munich.
Granit Xhaka, a midfielder for Leverkusen expressed dissatisfaction with the performance, describing the outcome as “a giant wake-up call — none of us can be satisfied with the game today.”
He emphasized the need for improvement, stating, “We can’t continue with performances like that. We can’t defend so naively. While we scored four goals, we cannot rely on that every week.”
Leverkusen’s coach, Xabi Alonso, made significant changes to the lineup that had recently defeated Feyenoord 4-0 in the Champions League, giving Nordi Mukiele his first start.
However, Mukiele, who joined on loan from PSG, had a challenging debut, conceding an own goal in the fifth minute when the ball deflected off his thigh. Florian Wirtz, who had scored twice in his Champions League debut, quickly equalized for Leverkusen with a stunning shot from outside the penalty area.
Jonathan Tah then put the host ahead with a header from a corner in the 32nd minute, but the lead was short-lived as Sebastiaan Bornauw equalized for Wolfsburg just five minutes later, heading in from close range.
Mattias Svanberg added to Wolfsburg’s tally with a goal from the edge of the box during a counterattack, but Leverkusen responded again in the 48th minute with a goal from Piero Hincapie.
