Super Eagles star Victor Boniface endured a frustrating outing for Bayer Leverkusen in their 1-0 win over Heidenheim to put pressure on Bayern Munich.
Alonso’s men bounced back from a disappointing defeat to third-division Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday with hard-fought victory to keep the pace in the title race.
Bayern Munich recorded a 3-1 win over Augsburg on Friday to maintain their six points lead, Leverkusen needed a late goal from Emiliano Buendia to snatch the maximum points.
Buendia produced a stunning finish in the 91st minute to break the deadlock.
Bayer Leverkusen struggled to impress in the encounter with their opponents sitting deep to frustrate their efforts.
Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah admitted that their performance was not good enough.
Tah said: “We didn’t play a good game at all… It was difficult today – at the end we needed a bit of luck.”
“We needed to win today, we did it, job done – and now we’re still in with a shot,” Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka told Sky Germany.
Victor Boniface was in action for 68 minutes but he struggled to make any impact in the encounter, failing to record any shot, and ended up with a 2.7 rating.
Similarly, another Super Eagles star, Nathan Tella was also in action for 68 minutes but he also failed to impress.
The 24-year-old has scored eight goals, and recorded one assist in 17 Bundesliga matches this season.
Up next for Boniface and Bayer Leverkusen is a home clash against Union Berlin next Saturday at the Bay Arena.
