Nigerian striker Victor Boniface scored the first goal and assisted on another as Bayer Leverkusen defeated Werder Bremen 5-0 to win their first Bundesliga title in style on Sunday at the BayArena.
Xabi Alonso's side won the title with five games remaining, ending Bayern Munich's 11-year reign, and now have the opportunity to become the first Bundesliga team to go undefeated for a complete season.
Boniface was making his first appearance for the club following recuperating from groin surgery that had side-lined him since January, and he made it count by converting a penalty in the 25th minute to open the scoring in the historic victory. Jonas Hofmann won the penalty following Nathan Tella's dangerous cross into the box.
The 23-year-old then assisted former Arsenal player Granit Xhaka for the second goal, and second-half substitute Florian Wirtz scored a hat-trick to seal the victory.
Boniface and his team-mate Tella, who received a place in the starting lineup ahead of Jeremie Frimpong, have joined former Super Eagles midfielders Sunday Oliseh and Pascal Ojigwe as Nigerians to win the Bundesliga title. Oliseh won it with Borussia Dortmund in 2001/02, while Ojigwe did so for Kaiserslautern in 1997/98. However, he was not given a medal despite featuring in a few matches.
Boniface and Tella joined Leverkusen this summer and have had an immediate influence on Alonso's team. Despite missing four months of activity due to injury, Boniface's goal-scoring ability has been critical to Leverkusen's title expectations, with 11 goals and nine assists in 18 Bundesliga appearances (18 goals and 10 assists in 27 games in all competitions).
Tella was also important to their success, particularly during Boniface's absence, scoring five goals and assisting twice in 19 Bundesliga matches.
