1.9m big center, loves to shoot like Ronaldo! Like Messi, he will be passable
When it comes to cruciate ligament injuries, many times fans will associate players who have retired or become passers-by. However, 22-year-old Nigerian centre-forward Boniface, who has shined in the Bundesliga this season, has suffered two bad lucks in his knees.
He struggled with injuries from the age of 18 to 20, and when he came back, he got better every year. Last season's Europa League Golden Boot, this season's Bundesliga is a big fight, 1.9 meters tall, like Ronaldo, he loves to shoot, and can even complete Messi-style passes.
01. 2 times cruciate ligament injury: can't beat the talented center of 1.9 meters
a. African Eagles have many centers: the most talented of whom he suffered 2 cruciate ligament injuries
In European football today, a centre forward from Nigeria is not good. The most recognizable is Napoli's star Osmeen, who was once quoted for more than 100 million euros in transfer fees.
Ligue 1 Nice Murphy is also good, competing with Mbappe for the Ligue 1 Golden Boot last season, and this season against Paris with 2 shots and 1 pass, becoming the team's big winner.
Awonier, who plays for Nottingham Forest, has also performed well, scoring seven consecutive Premier League goals. However, among them, the most talented is Boniface, the post-00s center who moved to Bayer Leverkusen this season.
Born on December 23, 2000, Boniface grew up at the Royal Sapphire Football Academy in Lagos, Nigeria. He first came to Europe at the age of 18 to join Norwegian league side Bodø Lightning.
Originally thought that he was extremely talented, he would soar, but just 2 weeks after coming, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury during training and had to be suspended for 6 months. However, he did not give up, trained hard and looked forward to returning.
Desperate fate once again tricked him, and just as he was about to make a big fight, he suffered another serious cruciate ligament injury, even more serious than the previous one, which made him miss more than 1 year of competition.
It was the darkest days of Boniface's life, running back and forth between hospitals and gyms, and his mother dying during that time.
Boniface, who was only 20 years old at the time, was almost crushed, but fortunately he persevered and returned to the greenery.
b. Rebirth in the Belgian league: to be the top scorer in the Europa League
He played less than 2,000 minutes in three years at Bodø, but Boniface's talent is still favored by many. In the summer of 2022, the club Saint Giros from Belgium spent 6.1 million euros to take him away, and he was subsequently handsomely rewarded.
With 22 goals and 12 assists, he became a pillar of the team's quest for the First League, and he helped St. Giros reach the last eight of the Europa League and win the golden boot.
When Bayer Leverkusen from the Bundesliga spent €20.5 million to take him to the top five leagues, we have to say that Boniface played a huge role in the current Bundesliga ranking of the first place in the Bundesliga, and many even felt that he was better than Osmeen.
Despite being 1.9m tall, Boniface is more than just a centre-forward, he is good at dribbling and also loves to shoot. Some people joke that he is an all-round attacker who is as obsessed with shooting as Ronaldo and can complete amazing dribbles like Messi.
02. He is 1.9 meters tall: he has good skills under his feet and likes to hit the wall to cooperate
a. I like to hit the wall: he can play small-ball system
It's hard to find a template to define Boniface because this big man is about 1.9m tall (some say he's 1.93m, others say he's 1.89m), has excellent skills at his feet, and even likes to dribble the ball.
He averaged 3.4 successful passes per game in the Bundesliga, with a success rate of 59%, and even sometimes his dribbling movements were amazingly like Messi. At the same time, he is strong and explosive, and can be used as a fulcrum to feed back the midfield, or directly to receive straight or high-ball long passes from the back.
This time Boniface voluntarily retreated to the center circle, and then tried to hit Xhaka in the crowd to hit a wall.
At the age of 22, he has a good frequency of foot movements, and the speed of turning and cutting inside makes it impossible to see that he is a 1.9 meter big man.
It can be said that Boniface returned to the treatment of the center circle this time, which really has a bit of Messi's taste. The ball was received and passed to Xhaka, who actually wanted to control the ball, but the ball was too big.
Boniface took the ball straight away and then sent a beautiful straight shot to Wiltz, who single-handedly faced the goalkeeper and scored.
Looking at the attack of this round, Boniface's receiving range is very large, and he can return to the center circle and pull the edge at any time, the key is that no matter what position he is, his catch and turn are quite characteristic (although sometimes the accuracy of continuous touch is not very high).
While passing through Wiltz, Boniface immediately started to walk towards the middle, and as a result, he also knocked Upamecano into a stumble. Once in the middle, Boniface was like a moving fulcrum, providing cover and manufacturing space for the latter to face the goalkeeper with a one-handed chance, but unfortunately the shot hit the post and failed to put Bayern in a disadvantageous situation from behind.
b. More punchy than Haaland: He has ball attributes
In terms of the position of the pitch, Boniface should not always be compared with Messi after all, but compared to Haaland, Boniface is actually more capable of rushing, and even thinks that his ability to have the ball can bring better independent attack.
In eight Bundesliga and Europa League games this season, he contributed eight goals and three assists, and was also the first in the Bundesliga with the most shots on goal (he really loves to shoot).
Although Boniface may not be so precise in his first touch, and sometimes there are some small mistakes, with his physical advantage, he can easily bump away defenders and even complete quick turns.
This time there were 2 consecutive confrontations, followed by Boniface with the ball to the 30-meter area, and also played a flower arrangement foot pass. It has to be said that the 1.9.9 22-year-old Nigerian center is often more like the former Brazilian ace striker.
This time was extremely exciting, Boniface took the ball and turned around quickly, and before the opponent could even react, he got his chance. A shot that has not yet passed the midfield shows his imagination on the offensive end and shows how much Boniface loves to shoot.
As a striker arrow, Boniface doesn't need his teammates to follow him up a lot of the time. In this wave of counter-attacks, Boniface after receiving the ball was caught by the Bayern players, the first blow was to push over Upamecano, and then he played his opponent into the box with his feet.
However, it should be noted that the player did not know how to observe the position of the goalkeeper and defender during the last shot, so the shot always sought power, the angle and line were not very reasonable, and the goal opportunity was missed.
03. Like Ronaldo loves to shoot: But shooting is his technical shortcoming
a. He shoots the most shots in the five major leagues
Boniface broke the all-time record with 29 shots in his first four Bundesliga games with Bayer Leverkusen. So far this season, he has averaged 6.4 shots per game in the Bundesliga, the first in the five major leagues.
You must know that Haaland is at Manchester City, and he only averages 4 shots per game (Osmayne is 4.1, Mbappe is 4.9). After Cristiano Ronaldo's departure, no one has been as passionate and capable of delivering as many shots as Boniface (the striker's average of more shots per game is not a bad thing, indicating that he can continue to put pressure on the goal).
Boniface has the ability to retreat to catch the ball or pull the edge, while his sprint runs are fast enough to reverse back to the front of the line in time.
And Boniface's header, right foot and left foot can complete the shot, outside the penalty area, can directly get up, it has to be said that his attack range is very large, this header score is also an example.
At the same time, after taking the ball in the core area, Boniface does not need to adjust too much, on the one hand, he has the ability to complete the foot, on the other hand, he can shoot with both feet at any time (the main foot is the right foot, but the left foot is very smooth).
The only problem is that he doesn't look at the position of the goalkeeper and defender when he shoots, so it's a bit of a stroke of luck on goal. This time it hit the goalkeeper, and it was still bounced and slowly entered the net, which can be regarded as good enough, so luck is good.
b. Shoot Shot Shot! Boniface's way of scoring
In his first month in the Bundesliga, Boniface became Player of the Month. From the location map of his shooting points in his first month in the Bundesliga, it can be seen that Boniface can really shoot outside the box, inside the box, and even inside the small box.
His attack range is very large, and the ways to attack can be described as varied, which is also one of the things that amazes him.
This wave of attack is typical, Boniface with the ball in the middle dribbled into the 30-metre area, and then he fired a direct long-range shot, which was saved by the goalkeeper.
The teammate received the ball and crossed it, Boniface had followed up in place, and the second catch was in front of the small penalty area line and shot again, but unfortunately he still played a little right and was blocked by the goalkeeper again.
Looking at the operation this time, Boniface once again completed the Messi-style pass. You really can't believe it's a 1.9m big guy, but he can do such a technical move right under his feet.
Unfortunately, with the last shot, you will feel that he changed from Messi to Husky in an instant. Boniface really doesn't know how to look at the position of the goalkeeper, so a lot of shots are missing variety.
It's like this time with the ball on the flank of the penalty area, and when Boniface cut inside, Upamecno was completely downwind (more embarrassed against Boniface than against Haaland).
However, Boniface's last shot was still habitually full force, and the result was directly knocked the ball away. Fortunately, he is only 22 years old, and shooting is also the easiest part to polish and improve, as long as this improves, he will be more terrible in the future.
Conclusion:
Although he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury twice, he didn't even play much in 2 years. But the 22-year-old Boniface proved himself to be one of the best big men among the post-00s forwards.
Although his technical movement habits and height and weight make him likely to injure the cruciate ligament again. But aside from injuries, there may really be nothing that can stop Boniface from soaring into the sky and becoming the best attacker.