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 its campaign while the Italian giant is still without a point.
Bundesliga champion Leverkusen is on six points after beating Feyenoord 4-0 in its opening game, while Milan lost 3-1 at home to Liverpool in its first match.
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.
It was no more than the home side deserved after an opening half in which it 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.
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The goal spurred the visitor into action, and it threatened to find an equaliser as it pinned Leverkusen back for long periods of the second half, but it fell to its second defeat in its 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 Hincapie’s header from the resulting corner.
The host surged forward at every opportunity and thought it had found a way through when Boniface had the ball in the net, but Frimpong was offside when he collected a pass on the wing to send in the cross.
Maignan kept Milan in the game, saving from Alex Grimaldo and Florian Wirtz, with Frimpong guilty of wasting chances on the rebound on both occasions, but Boniface made no mistake when his opportunity came.
Grimaldo’s backheeled pass set up Frimpong for the shot, which Maignan again managed to get a hand to, but Boniface had the simplest of chances from close range, and Leverkusen was ahead.
Milan manager Paulo Fonseca said before kickoff that he did not want to risk Alvaro Morata from the start. However, with his side searching for an equaliser, the Spanish striker was sent on for Tammy Abraham in the 62nd minute.
Morata had the chance to make his entrance count when Theo Hernandez’s shot from distance took a deflection and bounced back off the crossbar. Morata met the rebound, but his header went wide of the far post.
Milan had another late chance to snatch an equaliser, but Leverkusen’s Lukas Hradecky saved a shot on the turn from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and the home side held out to take all three points.
