Victor Boniface played from start to finish for Bayer Leverkusen as they held Bayern Munich to an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena in Friday night Bundesliga action.
Both sides were the most in-form sides going into this contest with three wins out of three.
Home advantage made Bayern the favourites in this game and they took the lead in the seventh minute courtesy of new signing Harry Kane’s header from a Leroy Sane corner kick for his fourth goal. Leverkusen however equalised in the 24th minute via Alejandro Grimaldo’s audacious free kick. Boniface thought he had made it 2-1 to Leverkusen in the 35th minute but his effort was ruled out for offside having latched on to Florian Wirtz’s brilliant pass.
Victor puts it in but offside!????
We're in this now! ????
35' | 1-1 | #FCBB04 | #Bayer04 pic.twitter.com/wGOkQTsA8P
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) September 15, 2023
The scoreline remained 1-1 until the 86th minute when Leon Goretzka reestablished Bayern’s lead with a composed finish off Mathys Tel’s assist. Bayern looked on course for all three points which would have established a three point lead over Xabi Alonso’s side but the visitors had the last say in added time after Exequiel Palacios levelled from the penalty spot following Alphonso Davies’ foul on Jonas Hofmann.
Boniface had more opportunities to add to his four Bundesliga goals but luck did not smile on the new recruit from Union Saint-Gilloise. The 22-year-old, who made his international debut for Nigeria with an assist during the 6-0 bashing of Sao Tome and Principe in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, produced a total of eight shots against Bayern, two of them on target which were also his big chances missed.
He also made three successful dribbles out of six attempts, had a 50% passing accuracy, played three successful long balls out of three and won five of nine total duels.
???????????????? ???????????????? ⏸️
What a fight! We take a draw at the Allianz Arena! ????
90' | 2-2 | #FCBB04 | #Bayer04 pic.twitter.com/9cXcBhydtK
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) September 15, 2023
Leverkusen will turn their attention to the Europa League next where they face Swedish side Hacken at the BayArena next Thursday while Bayern will host Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League a day before.
