The man whom Robert Andrich had just described as a “beautiful tanker” in conversation with the reporters was only a few meters away from the originator of the bizarre compliment and was in turn busy informing another group of reporters about the meeting between Bayer Leverkusen and to inform Union Saint-Gilloise. The game ended 1-1 and Victor Boniface, number 7 in the Belgian second-placed XI, had been a key figure in the Europa League encounter. He had scored the opening goal for the guests and left impressed opponents thanks to his both light-footed and powerful appearance.
“The weight room will definitely be his friend,” said the Bayer leader and secret captain Andrich, out of honest conviction, but that caused a false report, as Boniface immediately emphasized: “To be honest,” he basically does not go to the gym Gym, “I don’t like that”. And indeed: From the stands, the 22-year-old Nigerian might have been mistaken for Romelu Lukaku’s younger brother, but up close he only meets the standard dimensions of an athletic striker. His skill makes him seem so extraordinary. In the near future you will probably see him in larger arenas than in the home Stade Joseph Marien with its 9400 seats.
In the first act of the quarter-finals, the Leverkusen side had to learn again and again how wrong one can be in this team of a Brussels district club, which had suddenly shot up to international heights for decades, had been meaningless for decades.
Bayer was looking forward to the Belgians after the draw – too early, as you could see
The Union team, which is both robust and playful and tactically well organized, presented an even more demanding task than Leverkusen apparently had thought. Bayer didn’t give the impression that they underestimated their opponents or that they weren’t informed enough about them. Xabi Alonso’s eleven took the matter seriously at all times, which is what makes the performance-based draw seem so precarious.
Because it is also true that Leverkusen were happy when the supposed outsider was drawn, especially in a branch in which they would be spared Manchester United and Juventus Turin until the final. But now Victor Boniface was standing in the BayArena and saying: “Oh yes, I believe that we can reach the final.”
Clever in the foot: Florian Wirtz cleverly scores against three defenders of Union Saint Gilloise’s persistent players
(Photo: Maik Hölter/Imago/Team 2)
The hosts owe it to Florian Wirtz and his precision shot in the 82nd minute that they do not have to travel to the second game from behind – Florian Wirtz again, it must be said. The 19-year-old playmaker didn’t do everything right that night, but he never stopped wanting to do better.
“In terms of quality, it’s a huge goal,” said Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich, praising the late equaliser
If Xabi Alonso had substituted him, he could have given good reasons for doing so, but the coach was clever enough to overlook mistakes and bad decisions in Wirtz’s game. Among other things, because he had instructed the substitute striker Sardar Azmoun to win balls in the penalty area in order to prepare them for the following offensive players Wirtz or Moussa Diaby to score. And what happened in the 82nd minute? Just this. “In terms of quality, a huge goal,” as Andrich later rightly remarked: the goalscorer and assist provider had had to make do with tiny spaces against a superior number of opponents.
This moment of special class and the stormy final up to the last seconds of stoppage time made Bayer look like the favorites of the quarter-finals. Xabi Alonso then came to the briefing in a cheerful mood, the thin 1-1 did not seem to have disappointed him. “A typical quarter-final,” he stated in the style of the well-travelled European Cup expert. His footballers should like to take this prelude as a reminder, he said: “The tickets for the semi-finals are not for free – we have to earn it.” After six months at Bayer 04, he knows that this Leverkusen team may be capable of anything – but that they need full excitement to find their best performance.
