VICTOR BONIFACE turned on the style during Bayer Leverkusen’s crushing win over Feyenoord.
The Nigerian star pulled off an outrageous double nutmeg and no-look pass in the build-up to Leverkusen’s second goal.
Boniface stunned fans by executing a playground move made famous by French legend Thierry Henry.
The 23-year-old received the ball to feet 30 yards from the Feyenoord goal with Leverkusen already leading 1-0.
He trapped the pass with his instep before nutmegging both defenders who tried to prevent the break.
Boniface shaped to shoot with his right foot, but instead passed the ball out to the wing with his left in a short, sharp motion.
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A signature trick of Henry’s, the audacious move was perfectly executed perfectly by the Nigerian striker.
Jeremie Frimpong received the pass from Boniface before slinging an inch-perfect cross to the far post.
Alejandro Grimaldo was on hand to smash home to complete a stunning goal from the German champions.
One fan gasped on X: “If he did that in training, people would be going mad!”
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Another said: “Victor Boniface has just executed the Thierry Henry fake-shot pass to perfection. Outrageous.”
While a third added with a stunned emoji: “Stop it Boniface!!!! The Thierry Henry pass!!”
And a fourth simply gawped: “Boniface can ball.”
Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen were in stunning form as they toyed with Feyenoord at De Kuip.
They led 4-0 at half time, with Florian Wirtz bagging a brace and Feyenoord stopper Timon Wellenreuther putting through his own goal.
The Dutch side tightened up in the second period, with Leverkusen happy to see out the game.
New Champions League format
Each club will play eight matches in the opening phase – against seeded opposition, in a system designed to ensure that teams play opponents of similar difficulty.
The top eight teams in the “final” table will automatically go through to the last 16, where they will be joined by the eight play-off winners of ties between the sides placed ninth to 24th in the table.
Despite there being just eight matches in the opening phase, European matches will be spread over 10 midweek slots.
The new Champions League format also sees the implication of two additional qualifying spots.
They will be awarded to the nations that are top of the “country coefficient” chart each season.
Leverkusen will now head back to Germany to play AC Milan in Gameweek 2.
Feyenoord travel next to Spain to take on Girona, the La Liga surprise package playing in their first-ever Champions League campaign.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
