Xabi Alonso attempted to play down the confrontation between stars Victor Boniface and Emi Buendia following Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
The German champions enjoyed a comfortable win thanks to goals from Nathan Tella, Nordi Mukiele, Patrik Schick and Aleix Garcia, while Hugo Ekitike scored the lone goal for Frankfurt. Leverkusen’s trip to Deutsche Bank Park did not come without drama however.
With the game all but won, the pair furiously engaged after getting in each other’s way as they looked to score the side’s fifth goal. Boniface pointed his finger and pushed Buendia, who had shook his head in the Nigerian’s direction.
It saw a fiery end to Die Werkself’s victory but head coach Alonso was keen to play down the incident. Following the game, the Spaniard attempted to draw a line under the clash and claimed it was a ‘small’ issue.
“I spoke with Boni,” Alonso said. “I don’t have all the details, but Boni wanted to shoot, it can happen. We don’t want to make something big out of something so small. We’re staying calm. On Monday we’ll keep going again.”
Leverkusen’s managing director of sport Simon Rolfes was happy with the passion displayed, but less so with the end result from Boniface. “We want a team that’s ‘alive’, but Boni doesn’t have to push him away,” he said.
Defender Jonathan Tah said: “These are emotions. Everyone wants to score.”
