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| Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface celebrates scoring its first goal. | Photo Credit: REUTERS |
Bayer Leverkusen's Victor Boniface netted a second-half goal to earn a 1-0 home win over AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, giving the German side a perfect start to their campaign while the Italians are still without a point.
Bundesliga champions Leverkusen are on six points after they beat Feyenoord 4-0 in their opening game, while Milan lost 3-1 at home to Liverpool in their first match of the competition.
The only goal at the BayArena came six minutes after the break when Boniface fired home a rebound after Milan keeper Mike Maignan had parried a shot from Jeremie Frimpong.
"I think it's great news that German football is competitive. It's good news for us too to have achieved this result against Milan," Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso said after the game. "Our first sixty minutes were good but in the end we suffered from fatigue after the game against Bayern Munich.
"We showed spirit and character, these three points are very good. In the Champions League you have to know how to suffer and fight, not just play well."
It was no more than the home side deserved after an opening half in which they had the majority of possession and chances but could not find a way past Maignan, while Milan struggled to get a foothold in the game.
The goal spurred the visitors into action and they threatened to find an equaliser as they pinned Leverkusen back for long periods of the second half, but they fell to their second defeat in their first two games of the competition.
Leverkusen had two early chances in the opening minutes with Maignan saving from Boniface and then keeping out Piero Hincapié's header from the resulting corner.
- Reuters
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