Victor Boniface was the star of the day as Bayer Leverkusen played hosts to Heidenheim at the BayArena in a Bundesliga clash on Sunday afternoon.
Xabi Alonso’s men returned to Bundesliga action after the 4-0 bashing of Hacken in the Europa League on Thursday.
In their last league outing, Die Werkself played out a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena to maintain their unbeaten start to the new campaign, and they followed that performance up with another impressive display at home in front of their home support on Sunday.
Die Werkself’s 100% record at the BayArena in the new campaign was extended as they kept pace with Bayern Munich at the top of the table with another win.
Boniface shines – How it happened at the BayArena
Leverkusen made a quick start to the game against newly promoted Heidenheim on Sunday.
Leverkusen continued with the momentum of Thursday’s bashing of Hacken in the Europa League as they got a goal inside 10 minutes. Exequiel Palacios played a fantastic ball to the feet of Victor Boniface, who showed enormous strength to turn his marker before planting it into the bottom right corner.
It was the Nigerian striker’s fifth goal in four consecutive Bundesliga games since making the move to the German Bundesliga in the summer.
That quick opener unsettled the visitors as Leverkusen continued to dictate the game. Heidenheim were bereft of ideas despite coming into this match on the back of picking their first-ever three points in the Bundesliga against Werder Bremen last weekend.
Despite the dominance, the chances were not forthcoming for Victor Boniface and the rest of his teammates. However, they got one just before the break and it was Boniface at the end of it again. The Real Sapphire product went past his marker and raced through on goal but his shot was this time well saved by Kevin Müller.
The newly promoted side changed their approach after the break as Nikola Dovedan tested Lukáš Hrádecký before they eventually got an unlikely equalizer. Jan-Niklas Beste played a ball to Eren Dinkçi on the edge of the box, and the hero against Bremen finished expertly.
It seems the goal woke Boniface and the rest of the Leverkusen squad up and they immediately upped the ante in the final third. Just minutes later, the home side got the lead back as a wonderful through ball from Palacios made its way through to Jonas Hofmann, who slotted past a helpless Müller.
The second half continued to deliver as Heidenheim sought to find a response, but the home side finally got their two-goal cushion when Álejandro Grimaldo was brought down in the box, and Boniface stepped up to drill home the spot-kick.
Meanwhile, there was still time for Xabi Alonso’s men to get a fourth goal in the game. Amine Adli came off the bench to latch onto Grimaldo’s ball and majestically lob Müller for 4-1.
The win took Leverkusen’s point tally to 13 after five games, while Heidenheim remained on four points after five games as well.
Boniface has now scored eight goals and made three assists in just eight games in all competitions for Leverkusen this season.
This article was most recently revised and updated 12 months ago
