Boniface targets first club career hat-trick to set Bundesliga, Europa League scoring record

Victor Boniface will be targeting his first career hat-trick in his bid to make history on two fronts and end his already storied first season in the Bundesliga.

The Nigerian will first seek to end the season as the top scoring Nigerian in a single Bundesliga season. He has scored 13 goals in 22 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen but will need to score thrice against Augsburg on Saturday at the BayArena to overtake Taiwo Awoniyi who netted 15 goals in 31 appearances for Union Berlin in 2021/22 season.

If he succeeds on Saturday, Boniface will also be aiming for his second career hat-trick next Wednesday when Leverkusen face Ademola Lookman’s Atalanta in the final of the Europa League at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

If he nets a brace in the game, he will join Obafemi Martins as the top-scoring Nigerian in Europa League history but if he makes it a hat-trick, it will make him the standalone record holder.

Martins scored 13 goals in 27 games across five seasons, two more than Boniface in second place who has scored his goals across just two seasons.