Bundesliga
Sadio Mane leaves Liverpool for Bayern Munich
Reigning African soccer king, Senegal’s Sadio Mane is set to become Bayern Munich’s third signing of the transfer window as he bids Liverpool farewell after six seasons.
He is the latest signing at Bayern following the arrivals of Ajax pair Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazrouai, who both joined last week.
Sadio Mane is leaving Liverpool after the Reds reached a £35.1m agreement with the German side.
The Senegalese leaves Anfield having scored 120 goals in 269 appearances for the club, where he had one year remaining on his contract.
Mane won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup with the Reds, while he was also in the sides that lost Champions League finals in 2018 and 2022.
Having joined from Southampton for £34million in 2016, the forward became one of the key pillars of Jurgen Klopp’s side, forming a deadly attacking trio with Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah after the latter joined in 2017.
Liverpool have agreed to a structured deal for Mane which includes a guaranteed £27.5million, with £5million based on appearances and a further £2.6m on individual and team accolades.
They had earlier rejected two bids from the German giants based on the nature of the bonus clauses, but a breakthrough in talks was achieved after a Bayern delegation flew to Merseyside on Friday.
Bundesliga
All is well with me, says Boniface after car crash
Super Eagles and Bayer Leverkusen striker, Victor Boniface, has assured his teeming fans that all is well with him following the ghastly motor accident he was involved in on Saturday night.
Boniface scored the winning goal for Leverkusen on Saturday, in their 2-1 Bundesliga win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
He shared images of himself and his car after surviving a ghastly car crash and on his verified X platform. ‘God is the greatest’ he wrote.
The Nigerian star scored a goal which was his fifth for Bayer Leverkusen since the start of the Bundesliga season and it ensured that they climbed to fourth on the table.
Unfortunately, after the game, Boniface was involved in a deadly car crash. His car looked badly banged up and the bonnet was badly damaged.
From the pictures, he looks okay and doesn’t seem to have sustained any serious injuries that would keep him out of action for a long time. However, it is unlikely that he will feature in Bayer Leverkusen’s next game against Brest in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday as part of precautionary measures.
Nonetheless, Bayer Leverkusen should be fine without him as they have Czech Republic star Patrik Schick on the bench. However, they would have to be wary of Brest. The Ligue 1 club have won their first two games in the Champions League, scoring six goals against two Austrian clubs.
Boniface would likely be back in full action by next week.
Bundesliga
Super Eagles and Leverkusen’s Boniface involved in car crash
Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface was involved in a car crash on Sunday, a day after the club’s 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Boniface, who scored a 72nd-minute winner in Saturday’s match, on Sunday shared pictures and video of a smashed car in since-deleted posts on Instagram, as well as what appeared to be a picture of his hand covered in blood.
A club source said Boniface was doing well after the incident.
German tabloid Bild reported that the Nigeria international was a passenger in the car en route to Frankfurt airport and suffered minor hand injuries before being taken to hospital.
In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Boniface wrote: “God is the greatest”.
The Hessen state police website said the accident occurred on Sunday morning.
“A 28-year-old was driving a Mercedes in the middle of three lanes in the direction of Frankfurt when, according to his own account, he lost control of the vehicle due to fatigue and collided sideways with a truck that was driving in the right lane next to the Mercedes,” the report added.
Boniface’s management agency did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The 23-year-old Boniface has scored seven goals in 10 appearances for Leverkusen across all competitions this season.
German champions Leverkusen, who are fourth in the Bundesliga standings with 14 points from seven games, face French side Brest in the Champions League on Wednesday.
-Reuters
Bundesliga
Boniface strike hands Leverkusen thrilling 4-3 comeback win over Wolfsburg
Bayer Leverkusen pulled off a stunning Bundesliga comeback when they twice fought back from a goal down as Victor Boniface netted a 93rd-minute winner in a 4-3 home victory over VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday.
Second-placed Leverkusen have nine points from four games, level with SC Freiburg and Eintracht Frankurt and two ahead of Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, who play later on Sunday.
Despite taking home the three points, it was far from a convincing performance from the champions, with midfielder Granit Xhaka criticising his side’s defending.
“This is a huge wake-up call for all of us. We can’t continue with this performance,” Xhaka told DAZN.
“We can’t defend so naively. That’s not good enough and shouldn’t happen at this level. A top team doesn’t concede two goals in nine minutes! It was all far too easy.”
Coach Xabi Alonso opted to shuffle his pack, making five changes to the team that beat Feyenoord 4-0 in the Champions League, and Leverkusen suffered a nightmare start as they conceded from a Nordi Mukiele own goal in the fourth minute.
Leverkusen levelled nine minutes later when Florian Wirtz found space on the edge of the box and swept his shot into the bottom corner, before an unmarked Jonathan Tah scored their second with a cool header at the back post.
The lead was short-lived as the visitors equalised from a Sebastiaan Bornauw header before Mattias Svanberg went on a driving run in Leverkusen’s half and curled the ball past goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky on the stroke of halftime.
Leverkusen looked more assured after Alsonso made two changes during the break and their pressure quickly told, as substitute Piero Hincapie headed home a corner in the 49th minute.
Alonso brought on attackers Boniface and Martin Terrier with Leverkusen desperately seeking a winner and Wolfsburg quickly faded under the pressure.
The visitors suffered another blow when substitute Yannick Gerhardt was shown a red card in the 88th minute after clattering into Jeremie Frimpong from behind and then stepping on the defender’s ankle.
Sensing disarray in Wolfsburg’s ranks, the hosts surged forward and Nigerian Boniface, who started on the bench despite scoring twice in Leverkusen’s last league game, pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area and rifled home the winner.
“We knew how Wolfsburg would play and what we were up against… we really wanted to turn the game around for our fans,” Boniface said.
“We managed to do that. Now, of course, we’re very happy.”
The win will fill Leverkusen with confidence ahead of their daunting clash against in-form league-leaders Bayern Munich on Saturday.
-Reuters
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