Victor Boniface spent another full match on the substitutes’ bench as Bayer Leverkusen edged Cologne 2-1 in the Rhine derby on Sunday, with Patrik Schick’s late strike settling a tense Bundesliga clash at the RheinEnergieStadion.
The Super Eagles striker was named among the substitutes before kick-off, but head coach Carles Martinez turned to Jonas Hofmann, Loic Bade and Robert Andrich instead — leaving Boniface unused for the entire 90 minutes as Leverkusen held on for a win that lifts them to fifth in the Bundesliga.
Aleix Garcia had given the visitors the perfect start, curling a superb free kick into the top corner in the seventh minute after Patrik Schick was fouled around 20 yards from goal. Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwabe had already made a string of fine saves before the opener, and the hosts kept pushing for a leveller without ever quite finding the final pass.
Leverkusen led 1-0 at half-time, but the second half brought late drama at both ends. Schick thought he had doubled the lead in the 82nd minute, only for his effort to be ruled out for handball. Four minutes later, the Czech striker made no mistake, latching onto Ibrahim Maza’s pass, holding off defender Joel Schmied inside the box and finishing into the far corner to make it 2-0.
Cologne refused to fold. Said El Mala pulled one back in the second minute of stoppage time, volleying home a cross from his brother Malek El Mala, but there was no time for an equaliser and Leverkusen saw out a 2-1 win that ends a run of three defeats in four league games.
Victor Boniface: unused again as January questions grow
For Victor Boniface, the afternoon followed a now familiar pattern. The 25-year-old has slipped to third choice in Leverkusen’s attack behind Schick and the returning Malik Tillman, and Sunday was another reminder of how far down the pecking order he has fallen.
His only Bundesliga minutes in recent weeks came as a late substitute against Stuttgart on 1 November, and he was again left out of Eric Chelle’s 24-man Super Eagles squad for the Tanzania double-header — a decision that now looks even harder to argue with given his lack of club football.
With the January transfer window approaching, Boniface’s future at the BayArena is firmly in focus. Reports in Germany have linked him with a move away, and another month of bench duty would only strengthen the case for a fresh start elsewhere. For now, though, the striker’s immediate task is simply to force his way back into Martinez’s matchday plans. Victor Boniface will hope the coming weeks bring a change of fortune, whether at Leverkusen or elsewhere.
Nathan Tella, meanwhile, missed out again with the muscle injury that has kept him sidelined, leaving Leverkusen short of another Nigerian option on the flank.
Leverkusen climb to fifth as Cologne slide
The win lifts Leverkusen to fifth in the Bundesliga on 16 points, a welcome response after a difficult run that had seen them lose three of their previous four league games. Schick’s winner was his latest reminder of his value to the side, while Garcia’s early free kick set the tone for a controlled away performance. Victor Boniface could only watch from the bench as his team-mates sealed the win.
Cologne, by contrast, drop to 15th and have now gone four Bundesliga matches without a win. Rene Wagner’s side competed for long spells and will feel they deserved something from the game, but their failure to turn pressure into goals continues to cost them — their last home win over Leverkusen came back in 2019.
The result also sets Leverkusen up nicely for the international break, with the squad now able to regroup before the Bundesliga resumes. Cologne, meanwhile, head into the pause still searching for a first win since early October, and Wagner will know his side must start turning narrow defeats into points if they are to climb away from trouble. For Victor Boniface, the international break offers two weeks to reset and push for a recall when Leverkusen return to action.
For more on the weekend’s action, check today’s predictions.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0, Fuguito) — collage by SportsBuddy
