Boniface makes Leverkusen celebrate against Milan

Bayer Leverkusen has already made the second big exclamation mark in the Champions League – and thanks to Victor Boniface, beat Italy’s runner-up AC Milan 1-0 (0-0) on Tuesday evening.

Bayer’s record in the premier class remains flawless after its 4-0 opening win at Feyenoord Rotterdam. “We stuck together well in defense”said Bayer coach Xabi Alonso satisfied after the game, “We showed this Champions League mentality in the two games. Champions League means: fighting.” Captain Granit Xhaka added: “We created a lot of chances and took advantage of one of them. In the Champions League, little things make a difference, we played with great concentration and used the space in the wide positions very well.”

Leverkusen’s start was already furious. The first big chance arose after two minutes after a lightning counterattack, but Boniface shot too unplaced against Mike Maignan. Just a few seconds later, the French national goalkeeper had to grab it again, this time Piero Hincapié headed the ball towards goal from eight meters.

Offside – Boniface goal disallowed again

What Milan countered in the first half was shockingly weak: no forward movement, complete passivity in midfield, stars like Tijjani Reijnders, Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham went completely into hiding. The appropriate punishment would have been the opening goal for Leverkusen, which the fans briefly cheered after 20 minutes. Then the referee Sandro Schärer rightly rejected Boniface’s wonderful goal after Jeremy Frimpong’s cross: Frimpong had been offside after Alex Grimaldo had shifted the game.

Even after that, Milan didn’t feel compelled to shift up a gear or two. At times the guests had two chains of five in and in front of their own penalty area, but Bayer found gaps: Frimpong’s follow-up shot after a briefly blocked Boniface shot went just over the goal (38th), Amine Adli’s low shot was too imprecise (40th), In addition, Boniface and Florian Wirtz repeatedly ignored their better-positioned teammates.

Maignan saves – but is then powerless

Things got better in the second round. In the 48th minute, Maignan made a brilliant save against Wirtz’s shot. Three minutes later, the Frenchman was powerless: Grimaldo picked up Aleix Garcia’s through ball and included Frimpong, whose shot Maignan could only parrot – right at the feet of Boniface, who shot from four meters.

Only then did Milan do more on the offensive. In the 55th minute, Reijnders suddenly shot freely from a half-right position, and Lukas Hradecky just managed to get his arm into the path of the shot.

Frimpong misses the big chance

Even 20 minutes before the end it was very tight for Leverkusen. Substitute Spaniard Alváro Morata narrowly missed a header, then almost took advantage of sloppiness from Hradecky, who was trying to calmly dribble through his own six-yard box.

Leverkusen then had the match point, but Frimpong circled the ball into the side netting after a through pass from Wirtz in front of Maignan. That almost got revenge in the 84th minute: Granit

A complete false start for Milan

Hradecky could only watch the scenes in amazement, but then he was in control of the action again: Ruben Loftus-Cheek had shot from twelve meters, the Finn quickly raised his fists and thus secured Bayer’s second victory of this premier class season.

There was some luck again in stoppage time: Hincapié had hit Loftus-Cheek on the foot on the edge of the penalty area, but surprisingly the scene was not considered a foul and was not criticized by the VAR. For Milan, however, the false start is perfect: Paulo Fonseca’s team lost their first game at home 1-3 against Liverpool FC.