Victor Boniface's 93rd-minute strike secures Bayer Leverkusen a 4-3 victory against Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.
Despite taking home the three points, it was far from a convincing performance from the champions, with midfielder Granit Xhaka criticising his side's defending.
"This is a huge wake-up call for all of us. We can't continue with this performance," Xhaka told DAZN. "We can't defend so naively. That's not good enough and shouldn't happen at this level. A top team doesn't concede two goals in nine minutes! It was all far too easy."
Leverkusen levelled nine minutes later when Florian Wirtz found space on the edge of the box and swept his shot into the bottom corner, before an unmarked Jonathan Tah scored their second with a cool header at the back post.
The lead was short-lived as the visitors equalised from a Sebastiaan Bornauw header before Mattias Svanberg went on a driving run in Leverkusen's half and curled the ball past goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky on the stroke of halftime.
Leverkusen looked more assured after Alsonso made two changes during the break and their pressure quickly told, as substitute Piero Hincapié headed home a corner in the 49th minute.
Alonso brought on attackers Boniface and Martin Terrier with Leverkusen desperately seeking a winner and Wolfsburg quickly faded under the pressure.
The visitors suffered another blow when substitute Yannick Gerhardt was shown a red card in the 88th minute after clattering into Jeremie Frimpong from behind and then stepping on the defender's ankle.
Sensing disarray in Wolfsburg's ranks, the hosts surged forward and Nigerian Boniface, who started on the bench despite scoring twice in Leverkusen's last league game, pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area and rifled home the winner.
"We knew how Wolfsburg would play and what we were up against... we really wanted to turn the game around for our fans," Boniface said. "We managed to do that. Now, of course, we're very happy."
Late-Game Heroics: Boniface Strikes Again
Bayer Leverkusen did it again. Tied 3-3 late in the day against Wolfsburg, the defending champs — no longer invincible after a loss early in this season — Die Werkself found itself on the ropes. Dropping points twice in four games was no way to enter its titanic clash against Bayern Munich next weekend.
And so they didn’t. As they have so many times before under Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen found the magic late. Striker Victor Boniface received in the box, turned on a swivel, and fired home past Wolfsburg keeper Kamil Grabara in the third minute of stoppage time to restore the advantage — and nearly scored a second time before it was all over.
It was not a smooth game for the reigning title holders. Wolfsburg struck within five minutes. After Leverkusen roared back to a 2-1 lead just past the half-hour mark, Wolfsburg struck twice more before the break before an early second-half goal made for a final 45’ full of tension.
Leverkusen's Defensive Woes
The late goal always looked coming, though. Xabi Alonso’s men poured on the pressure, dominating the possession and fashioning an endless stream of chances. Granit Xhaka nearly at one point scored a wonder goal from distance but struck the post — the kind of misfortune that would cause most spirits to flag. And the stats tell the tale of an almost unlucky result — 2.2 xG to 0.59, from which the visiting Wolfsburg side had managed to conjure three goals.
Almost unlucky. As they always do, the Leverkusen stars made just enough of their own luck.
Xabi Alonso's Tactical Masterclass
With Wolfsburg’s Yannick Gerhardt dismissed in the 88th minute for a foul and stomp on Leverkusen wing-back Jeremie Frimpong, Die Werkself smelled blood — spamming the box with dangerous balls until something came out of it.
And something finally did. After a corner, Álex Grimaldo’s pass into a box deflected favorably to the wings for Florian Wirtz, who had taken the set piece. The German national team star had time and space to pick out Exequiel Palacios inside the box, and Palacios fired a second ball forward into a mass of bodies. The ball bounced around before Boniface latched on, and before any defenders could react, the striker had turned and struck it goal-ward.
Perfectly tucked into the bottom corner. The Bayern defenders will have their hands full next week. But so will Leverkusen’s — the Bavarian steamroller shows no signs of stopping, and has put up 20 goals in its last three games.
A Battle for the Ages Awaits
Next Saturday, then: it’s Bayern Munich vs. Bayer Leverkusen in an early-season Bundesliga tilt for the ages. Who will come out on top?
