Xabi Alonso Explains Main Reason for Benching of Victor Boniface Leverkusen Draw vs As Roma

• Victor Boniface is one of the most important players at Bayer Leverkusen
• The Nigerian was benched in Leverkusen's Europa League clash at AS Roma
• Leverkusen boss, Xabi Alonso, explained why the striker remained on the bench

Bayer Leverkusen's historic 2023/24 campaign continued on Thursday, May 9, when they drew 2-2 with AS Roma in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals to book their spot in the final.

Leverkusen comfortably won the tie 4-2 on aggregate, but Nigeria star, Victor Boniface, did not play a single minute of both games.

Boniface recently returned from a long injury layoff after a superb first half of the season. He has registered 19 goals and 10 assists this season in 30 matches in all competitions, per Transfermarkt.

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Boniface and Alonso have wrapped up their first league title and are looking to seal an unprecedented treble when the season ends.

Leverkusen coach, Xabi Alonso, said since they have different approaches, they chose to sacrifice the likes of Boniface and Patrick Schick. The Czech has scored 11 goals this season. When they beat Roma in the first leg Alonso explained his squad management.

“Fortunately, there are no injuries, we simply chose this XI with the hope it will go well for this game. We aim to play in a complete fashion, so there will be phases when we need to defend with sacrifice and others where we will attack,” via Afrik-Foot.

Leverkusen will face Atalanta in the Europa League final on May 22 in Dublin for a chance to lift another title.

Boniface reacts to Bundesliga win

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Sports Brief earlier reported on Boniface reacting to Leverkusen clinching the Bundesliga title. Their win ended Bayern Munich's 11-year dominance.

The Nigerian was on target scored against Werder Bremen in their 5-0 win on April 14, which secured their first-ever league title. He took to social media to celebrate the historic triumph.

Boniface hits Kudus' celebration against West Ham

Sports Brief also reported that Boniface hit Mohammed Kudus' celebration after scoring in Leverkusen's win over West Ham in the Europa League.

The former Union Saint-Gilloise centre-forward netted late as the German side overcame the Hammers 2-0 in the first leg.

The Super Eagles star headed in Jonas Hoffman's cross to hand Leverkusen a vital win. Both sides drew 1-1 in the second leg.