Alonso: We hope Boniface can still play this year

Bayer Leverkusen head coach, Xabi Alonso has confirmed that Super Eagles forward, Victor Boniface is injured and will miss a few games.

The Nigerian returned from the international break with injury and Alonso told the media on Friday at his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Heidenheim that the 23-year-old rookie of the 2023/24 season will not be available for selection but hopes he can still play a part this year.

Boniface is said to have torn fibres in his thigh in Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Rwanda in the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations.

‘He will miss a few games. I can’t say exactly how long. It won’t be six to eight weeks. We hope he can still play this year,’ said Alonso.

Leverkusen have eight games left to play this year starting with the Bundesliga game at the BayArena on Saturday.

This is the Nigerian’s second major injury of the year after missing a large part of the second half of last season with an abductor injury which also cost him a place in Nigeria’s AFCON 2023 Africa Cup of Nations squad.

He missed a total of 11 games from the start of the year and only returned to action at the start of April, playing for 23 minutes in Leverkusen’s 1-0 win at Union Berlin.

Boniface has been in good form up until his injury with six goals and one assist in 10 Bundesliga games.