Boniface, Tella Cap Incredible Bundesliga Season with Leverkusen in Blaze of Glory

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Nigerian  international, Victor Okoh Boniface, scored his 14th league goal and 21st in all competitions as Bayer Leverkusen defeated FC Augsburg 2-1 at home to finish an incredible, unbeaten German Bundesliga season on Saturday evening.

The victory is the first for Leverkusen and a record-making one in all of Europe. Leverkusen’s 51 games unbeaten  in all competitions has broken  a 59-year-old UEFA record – and two more wins will secure a remarkable treble.

Portuguese side, Benfica with their legendary Eusebio previously held the record of 49 games unbeaten between 1963 and 1965 until Leverkusen rewrote history this season. They are not done yet. 

With the UEFA Europa League final clash with Ademola Lookman’s Atalanta coming up on Wednesday in Dublin and the German Cup final against second-tier Kaiserslautern three days later, Leverkusen’s treble appears possible and a record that may take years to match, loading.

The Super Eagles gangling forward got the opener for the German champions with his 12th minute tap in. He was set up for the opener by teammate, Amine Adli before a close-range effort by Robert Andrich made it double. 

Mert Komur’s second-half strike in reply was meaningless as Leverkusen were able to finish a memorable league campaign in winning ways.

Boniface, 23,  who missed Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations’ party in Côte d’Ivoire in January through a late injury, has proved a vital addition to Leverkusen this season.

After helping Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise reach the quarter final of the 2022/23 Europa League with six vital goals, he switched to the Bundesliga side on a five-year deal until 2028. He hit the ground running almost immediately and continued in that pace until this weekend Leverkusen were formally crowned German champions.

In all, he played 2064 minutes, scored 21 goals in all competition, and provided 10 assists in 33 matches. Another Nigerian, Nathan Tella played 40 games, scored seven goals and provided six assists in the 1732 minutes he has played so far this season.

Never in the history of the German Bundesliga has any team played 34 matches, won 28, drew six without any defeat. They scored 89 goals and conceded only 24 times. Their last league defeat was at the end of last season, when they lost 3-0 at Bochum.

Should they finish the season unbeaten in all competitions then it will be 53 games they have gone without experiencing defeat.