Leverkusen’s Boniface Strikes Again to Snatch Draw with Dortmund

Duro Ikhazuagbewith agency report

Super Eagles forward, Victor Boniface, rescued Bayer Leverkusen from what would have turned out their first defeat of the season when barely 11 minutes from regulation time, he snatched a precious equaliser to end the game  1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund.

And so, Boniface’s equaliser keeps Leverkusen on top of the Bundesliga with 35 points from 13 matches, three points ahead of defending champions Bayern Munich, who have a game in hand.

The goal also cap a productive week for the Nigerian striker as he similarly scored in a 2-0 win at BK Hacken of Sweden in the UEFA Europa League midweek.

Interestingly, it was Dortmund that got the curtain raiser when Julian Ryerson

scored just five minutes into the game and the visitors looked set to be the first side this season to beat Leverkusen in any competition.

With the clock running down, Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso brought Patrik Schick from the bench and the move paid immediate dividends, with the Czech attacker finding Boniface for the equaliser.

The draw means Leverkusen end the round three points ahead of Bayern Munich on the ladder, although the Bavarians have a game in hand after Saturday’s match with Union Berlin was postponed due to heavy snowfall.

Fresh from Tuesday’s 3-1 win at AC Milan which secured progress to the Champions League knockouts, Dortmund burst out of the blocks, taking the lead after just five minutes through Ryerson.

With his back to goal, Niclas Fuellkrug held the ball up perfectly before back-heeling to Ryerson, who threaded the ball into the goal.

Leverkusen turned up the heat for the remainder of the opening half but could not find an equaliser, Florian Wirtz’s 45th-minute stunner being ruled out by VAR for a narrow offside.

Dortmund held firm amid relentless Leverkusen pressure in the second-half, before Alonso sent on Schick, who had only played one minute in the league this season.

The Czech striker helped Leverkusen equalise less than a minute later, sliding a ball through the Dortmund defence to Boniface, who tapped home from close range.

Earlier on Sunday, a second-half goal from Austria striker Michael Gregoritsch took Freiburg to a narrow 1-0 win at struggling Mainz.