Nigeria’s Boniface shines as Leverkusen held in thrilling draw with Werder Bremen
Victor Boniface scored just six days after he was involved in a traffic accident as Bayer Leverkusen played out a thrilling 2-2 draw with Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.
Werder Bremen went into the match without a home goal this season but started well and spurned three chances in the opening stages.
Striker Marvin Ducksch would have had a hat-trick inside the opening 19 minutes were it not for Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, who made two close-range stops before tipping a curling effort wide.
After surviving those early scares, the defending Bundesliga champions took the lead when Boniface converted Jeremie Frimpong’s cross from six yards out.
Boniface missed Leverkusen’s 1-1 midweek Champions League draw with Brest after the taxi he was travelling in last Sunday crashed, but he passed a late fitness test and marked his return with his sixth goal of the campaign.
The Nigerian striker drew an excellent save from Bremen goalkeeper Michael Zetterer early in the second period, but Bremen weren’t deterred and continued to play out from the back and create opportunities.
Hradecky again repelled Ducksch – this time a stinging snap-shot – but he could do nothing to stop the striker’s looping header with 15 minutes to play.
The hosts weren’t level for long though, as three minutes later Felix Agu unwittingly converted Robert Andrich’s cross into his own net to restore Leverkusen’s lead.
Florian Wirtz rattled the post with a viscous late drive, but once again Bremen fought back with Romano Schmid producing a 90th-minute rocket from the edge of the penalty area.
Both sides could have won the match in injury-time but neither could quite find the finishing touch.
Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen side have failed to keep a clean sheet this term and have already conceded 14 goals, just 10 fewer than in the entirety of their title-winning campaign last season.
The draw takes Leverkusen up to third in the table, five points behind leaders RB Leipzig who beat Freiburg earlier on Saturday.
Bremen are ninth with their winless run against Leverkusen extended to 15 games.
BBC Sport
