Bundesliga
Lewandowski’s departure to Barca leaves Bayern seeking new star striker
The departure of Robert Lewandowski leaves Bayern Munich with the unenviable task of finding a replacement for the Bundesliga’s most prolific contemporary striker after his relationship with the club turned sour.
Following eight glorious years in Munich, winning the Bundesliga each season and lifting the Champions League trophy in 2020, Lewandowski announced in late May that “my story with Bayern comes to an end”.
The forward turns 34 in August, yet Lewandowski is showing no signs of slowing down and now embarks on a fresh challenge to make as much impact on Spain’s La Liga as he did in the Bundesliga.
He scored 35 times last season in Germany’s top flight, after breaking the single-season scoring record in the previous campaign with 41 Bundesliga goals, snatching the record from Gerd Mueller who held it for 49 years.
The Polish striker quits Germany’s top flight having scored 312 goals in 383 Bundesliga games for Bayern and former club Dortmund.
Only German legend Mueller, who scored 365 goals for Bayern in 427 Bundesliga games during the 1960s and 1970s, netted more.
But since Lewandowski won Fifa’s best male player award for the second year running in January, his relationship with Bayern has progressively unravelled.
Communications breakdown
With Lewandowski’s contract expiring in 2023, Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic insisted at the start of the year that the star striker was central to their plans.
Yet when a Sky reporter relayed the message in a post-match interview in February, Lewandowski dropped the first hint that communications had broken down. “I’m hearing that for the first time,” he said.
As reports emerged that Barcelona were eager to fulfil the striker’s wish of playing at the Camp Nou, Salihamidzic and Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn could only insist Lewandowski would be held to his contract.
He finished last season banging in goals for Bayern, earning the trophy as the Bundesliga’s top-scorer for the fifth straight year.
Despite winning a 10th straight Bundesliga title last season, there was a lingering air of disappointment after Bayern’s shock Champions League exit to Villarreal in the quarter-finals.
A defeat in Spain and draw at home showed how far Bayern currently are from the summit of European football, fuelling Lewandowski’s desire to leave.
As tensions simmered between the player and club, head coach Julian Nagelsmann admitted he wanted the matter resolved to plan for next season.
Lewandowski’s team-mate Leon Goretzka said it was important to “find a good solution for everyone involved.”
Yet the prolific poacher will not be easy to replace.
His 55 goals in all competitions in 2019/20 were key to Bayern winning the treble, as Lewandowski became the first player to be top-scorer in the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup competitions in a single season.
Five goals, nine minutes
He has made a career out of stunning goal-scoring feats.
In 2015, he needed just under nine electrifying minutes off the bench to score five goals, leading the charge as Bayern roared back from a goal down against Wolfsburg to dish out a 5-1 thrashing.
Two years earlier, Lewandowski scored four goals for Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, helping his former club into the final, where they were beaten by Bayern at Wembley.
Lewandowski was spotted as a raw 21-year-old playing for Polish club Lech Poznan, where he scored 41 goals in 82 games, and joined Dortmund in 2010.
He made his breakthrough under Juergen Klopp, helping Dortmund win back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2010/11 and 2011/12.
Lewandowski put himself firmly on Bayern’s radar with a hat-trick against them in the prestigious surroundings of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium as Dortmund romped to a 5-2 win in the 2012 German Cup final.
Two years later, Bayern signed him on a free transfer and, thanks largely to Lewandowski’s ruthlessness in front of goal, the Bavarian giants have since dominated the Bundesliga.
His depature to Spain is perhaps the biggest threat to Bayern’s monopoly of Gefmany’s top flight with the hunt for a new star striker potentially now on.
-AFP
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.
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
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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