Brilliant Boniface helps Leverkusen bounce back

Defending champions Bayer Leverkusen put their first defeat in 35 Bundesliga games behind them on Saturday when they thumped Hoffenheim 4-1 with Victor Boniface bagging a brace.

The win will be a confidence-boost for Xavi Alonso’s men Leverkusen, who start their Champions League campaign next Tuesday in Rotterdam against Feyenoord.

Frenchman Martin Terrier scored his first Bundesliga goal to give the visitors a deserved lead, before Boniface danced around defenders to add a second while Mergim Berisha soon pulled one back.

“It comes from a Tiktok trend in Nigeria, who created this dance and he asked me if I could do it after I scored,” said Boniface, explaining his goal celebration.

But eventually, Leverkusen found a way through. Florian Wirtz converted a penalty before Boniface added a well-taken second.

“A good team loses once, but not two, three or four times in a row,” Granit Xhaka said afterwards.

Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, making his 464th Bundesliga appearance to draw level with German football legend Lothar Matthäus, made a string of saves to keep the home side in the game.

– Leipzig held –
Despite dominating, Leipzig couldn’t find a way past Union Berlin and had to settle for a point after a 0-0 draw.

With Marco Rose out suspended and Bo Svensson sick, both teams were without their head coaches on the sideline.

Xavi Simons hit the bar, and Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow saved a Lois Openda penalty and a David Raum free kick to frustrate the hosts, who couldn’t maintain their perfect start to the season.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt beat Wolfsburg 2-1 as Omar Marmoush came back to haunt his former employer by scoring a goal in each half.

At the third time of asking, Stuttgart got their first win of the season by beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-1 thanks to two goals in four second-half minutes from Ermedin Demirovic.

In-form Germany striker Deniz Undav had given Stuttgart the lead in the first half, only for Alassane Plea to equalize for the hosts.

A brace from Junior Adamu helped Freiburg to a 2-1 win over Bochum, who had taken the lead with their first goal of the season.

Later on Saturday, Bayern Munich can maintain their perfect start to the season with an away win against newly-promoted Holstein Kiel, a side they famously lost to on penalties in the second round of the German Cup in January 2021.