Victor Boniface: Leverkusen Boss Alonso Makes You ‘Up Your Game’ 

Bayer Leverkusen's Nigerian forward #22 Victor Boniface sits after an interview with AFP at the BayArena in Leverkusen, western Germany, on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
Bayer Leverkusen's Nigerian forward #22 Victor Boniface sits after an interview with AFP at the BayArena in Leverkusen, western Germany, on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Victor Boniface: Leverkusen Boss Alonso Makes You ‘Up Your Game’ 

Bayer Leverkusen's Nigerian forward #22 Victor Boniface sits after an interview with AFP at the BayArena in Leverkusen, western Germany, on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
Bayer Leverkusen's Nigerian forward #22 Victor Boniface sits after an interview with AFP at the BayArena in Leverkusen, western Germany, on April 24, 2024. (AFP)

Bayer Leverkusen and Nigeria striker Victor Boniface said Xabi Alonso has a particular advantage over other coaches on the training pitch.

"Imagine you're training and your coach is doing better than you," Boniface told AFP in an interview.

"Then you want to step up your game.

"For him to be involved in training gives us a boost," Boniface said of Alonso, who "has won everything that can be won in football".

"Sometimes he tells me of players he played with, with similar abilities to me. He tries to improve me in my weakest areas."

Leverkusen host third-placed Stuttgart on Saturday knowing they are four games away from becoming the first team to go through a Bundesliga season unbeaten.

Their runs to the German Cup final, where they face second-division Kaiserslautern, and Europa League semi-finals, where they take on Roma, mean they have gone a record 45 games unbeaten in all competitions this season.

'I love penalties'

Boniface, 23, was born in the southern Nigerian city of Akure and told AFP he was "always" a football fan.

Earlier this month, he coolly dispatched a penalty to open the scoring in the 5-0 home rout of Werder Bremen which made Leverkusen Bundesliga champions for the first time.

Leverkusen had never previously won a league title in their 120-year history.

The club's record of second-placed finishes -- often somehow snatching defeat from the jaws of victory -- saw them tainted with the unwanted "Neverkusen" moniker, but Boniface said he was not nervous when he took the spot-kick.

"No. To be honest, I didn't feel pressure. We're football players.

"Moments like this -- I took the responsibility to help the team. That's why I'm here. I love penalties."

The pressure of a spot-kick pales in comparison with some of the struggles Boniface has already endured in his young career.

He moved from Nigeria to Norway at 18, signing with Bodo/Glimt.

Despite playing a part in the club's first-ever Norwegian title in 2020, he tore his ACL twice and later said he considered quitting the game.

After a successful stint with Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, he moved to Leverkusen last July, receiving his first Super Eagles call-up earlier this season, which he called "a dream come true".

He scored 16 goals in his first 23 games but was then injured again while preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria, missing four months including his country's run to the final, where they lost to hosts Ivory Coast.

"It was really difficult when I got injured. When I got injured, in my head I said 'OK, I'm missing AFCON, I'm going to miss a lot of games for Leverkusen.'

"During that time it was difficult for me, but I have my teammates and a club which takes care of me.

"It's difficult but at the same time it's just football. There are good moments and bad -- it's just how you take it."

'With this team we can do something'

Many have tipped Boniface for the top and he does already have one essential ingredient: a signature celebration.

"To be honest, it doesn't mean anything," Boniface said of his swaggering, finger-pointing celebration.

After scoring an equalizer in Belgium, he was being chased by a teammate and the striker "was just trying to do something really funny".

"I saw the clip and thought -- this is nice. It's a funny celebration."

Boniface was seen partying alongside his teammates well into the night after wrapping up the title, but also took the time to tell thousands of fans gathered on the stadium grass the season was not over.

"Sometimes it's difficult to switch out of party mood," Boniface said, admitting "the guys who were out, I think some of them had a little bit of a tough day the next day at training."

Boniface said confidently "with this team, we can do something", but refused to look past the next challenge.

"Right now, I don't think anyone is talking about Roma in the dressing room. We are focusing on the game on Saturday.

"After the Stuttgart game, we can focus on Roma."

Boniface, who admits to being a childhood Arsenal fan, said he was not thinking longer term either.

"Right now my full focus is on Leverkusen and being ready to try and achieve more good things with the club."

He does however look forward to playing in the Champions League with Leverkusen, saying "it will be one of the proudest moments for me."



‘I’m Not Flirting with Any Team’: Marseille Coach De Zerbi Denies Exit Talks amid Tensions

 Marseille's Italian head coach Roberto De Zerbi reacts during the French L1 football match between Stade de Reims and Olympique de Marseille (OM) at Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, northern France on March 29, 2025. (AFP)
Marseille's Italian head coach Roberto De Zerbi reacts during the French L1 football match between Stade de Reims and Olympique de Marseille (OM) at Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, northern France on March 29, 2025. (AFP)
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‘I’m Not Flirting with Any Team’: Marseille Coach De Zerbi Denies Exit Talks amid Tensions

 Marseille's Italian head coach Roberto De Zerbi reacts during the French L1 football match between Stade de Reims and Olympique de Marseille (OM) at Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, northern France on March 29, 2025. (AFP)
Marseille's Italian head coach Roberto De Zerbi reacts during the French L1 football match between Stade de Reims and Olympique de Marseille (OM) at Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, northern France on March 29, 2025. (AFP)

Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi says he wants to stay on at the French league club and insisted Friday that he has not been contacted by other clubs despite reports of a player mutiny and interest from AC Milan.

Speaking during a conference Friday, De Zerbi said he is "not flirting with any team."

"At the moment I have no desire to leave," De Zerbi said. "My intention is to stay here for many years. Since it takes two to make a marriage, we still need to see a lot of things, and how we finish in the league".

Marseille has developed an attractive and effective style of play under De Zerbi but has been going through a bad patch of results, losing four of its past five matches. The team, however, remains in third place in the French league standings, in a position to qualify for next season's Champions League ahead of Sunday's match against Toulouse.

According to L'Equipe, De Zerbi has been facing criticism from his players, who are questioning his authoritative methods. The sports daily reported that De Zerbi was so angry with his team after a loss at Reims that he refused to run a training session this week, leaving it to his staff, and that the club's director of football had to intervene to diffuse the dispute as many players felt humiliated.

"I know when it’s time to hug my players and when it’s time to be a little stronger," De Zerbi said. "I’m not afraid, I’m ready to do anything for my job. That’s what I want to pass on to the team. I don’t want everyone’s approval, but everything has to be done at 100%."

Meanwhile, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that De Zerbi is now the favorite to take over at Milan, with Massimiliano Allegri and Antonio Conte also considered for the job.

Since American owner Frank McCourt bought Marseille in 2016, the former powerhouse of French soccer has failed to find any form of stability, with a succession of coaches and crises that sometimes turned violent.

The club has changed coach 30 times since the beginning of the century, the highest total of any top-flight team in France in that period. The 1993 Champions League winner missed out on European qualification after finishing eighth in the French league last season.

Marseille dominated domestic soccer in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is the only French team to win the Champions League but hasn’t won the domestic league since 2010.