Nigeria Super Eagles forwards, Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella, made history as Bayer Leverkusen beat SV Werder Bremen 5-0 to win the German Bundesliga for the first time, www.aclsports.com reports.
After Bayern Munich stumbled last week, a win in Leverkusen’s final six matches would have been enough to clinch the title, but they wanted to make sure the title was wrapped up as early as possible in front of their fans.
Boniface, who joined the Bay Arena outfit last summer from RUSG, opened the scoring in the rout to lead Xabi Alono’s side to the title win, ending Bayern Munich’s 11-year reign.
Boniface has spent most of 2024 injured, but came off the bench to score against West Ham United in the Europa League earlier on Thursday and he was handed his first start since his return. Boniface compatriot Nathan Tella was preferred to the rested Jeremie Frimpong in some of the changes made by Alonso ahead of the second-leg clash with the Hammers in London on Thursday.
The visitors were more competitive than expected, but Tella continued to cause problems down the right, and his dangerous cross led to the penalty incident where Julián Malatini fell Jonas Hofmann which Boniface took brilliantly to extinguish any nerves in the BayArena.
Although the lead at HT was slender, the hosts headed into the tunnel knowing they were on course to become the 13th team to win the Bundesliga and write themselves into German football history.
While Bremen continued to prove stubborn after the break, by the time the time the second goal went in, there was no stopping the hosts. Boniface teed up former Arsenal man Granit Xhaka who sent a whipping strike beyond the reach of Zetterer.
One-way traffic ensued from there, and Florian Wirtz soon rocketed into the roof of the net from a similar distance. Wirtz then scored two late goals to complete his hat-trick as Leverkusen finished off a hapless Bremen at home.
Boniface has scored 11 times and assisted another nine in just 18 Bundesliga appearances for Leverkusen on their way to the title while on the other hand, Tella has five goals and two assists from 20 league appearances.
With the Bundesliga sealed, Boniface and Tella with Leverkusen – who are still unbeaten in all competitions this season – will hope to claim the German DFB-Pokal and UEFA Europa League to cap off a wonderful campaign.
