Victor Boniface came off the bench as Bayer Leverkusen suffered a 4–2 home defeat to Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Saturday, October 31.
The Super Eagles striker replaced Aleix García in the 83rd minute, with Leverkusen chasing two goals after Ibrahim Maza had revived their hopes. Boniface could not help complete the comeback, while fellow Nigerian Nathan Tella missed the match with a fitness issue.
Ermedin Demirović scored twice for Stuttgart, with Jamie Leweling and Bilal El Khannouss also finding the net. Patrik Schick and Maza replied for the hosts at the BayArena.
Stuttgart struck first after 14 minutes. Mark Flekken stopped El Khannouss’s initial effort, but Demirović reacted to convert the rebound and put the visitors ahead.
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Leweling doubled the advantage eight minutes later following another save from Flekken. The goalkeeper denied Grischa Prömel, only for the loose ball to fall to Leweling close to goal.
Schick brought Leverkusen back into contention before the interval, heading home García’s corner to reduce the deficit to 2–1. Maza also struck the crossbar as the hosts pressed for an equaliser.
The second half, however, brought another setback. El Khannouss restored Stuttgart’s two-goal cushion in the 51st minute, finishing from the edge of the penalty area after Chris Führich supplied the pass.
Demirović added his second in the 65th minute to make it 4–1, leaving Leverkusen facing a difficult recovery.
Maza gave the home supporters renewed hope in the 79th minute, meeting Miguel Gutiérrez’s cross with a header to cut the gap to two goals.
Coach Carles Martínez subsequently introduced Boniface for García as Leverkusen searched for another breakthrough. The Nigerian won a corner during the closing stages, but Stuttgart protected their advantage through five minutes of added time.
The result handed Leverkusen their first home league defeat of the season and left them on 13 points from eight matches.
It also followed their 5–2 German Cup victory over Nürnberg earlier in the week, when they had successfully overturned a two-goal deficit.
Leverkusen’s next scheduled assignment is a home Europa League meeting with Marseille on November 5. They then travel to Cologne for their next Bundesliga fixture on November 8.
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