Super Eagles duo Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella endured a tough start to Bayer Leverkusen’s pre-season in Brazil, suffering a 5-1 defeat against Flamengo U20s.
Boniface started the friendly but was withdrawn after 36 minutes, while Tella came on just after the hour mark. It was also the first game for new Leverkusen coach Erik ten Hag, who recently took charge of the Bundesliga champions.
Erik Ten Hag Reacts to Embarrassing Loss
Speaking after the defeat, Ten Hag admitted the performance was below expectations but stressed the priority was to avoid injuries at this stage of pre-season.
“We should never have lost, especially not by such a large margin, but it was important to me not to lose any players to injuries,” the former Manchester United boss said.
He added that the team improved slightly towards the end of the match:
“The last 30 minutes were good; there were signs of improvement. But before that, it was terrible. It would have been better to play this match later in the tour, but it had to be done now.”
Leverkusen’s Brazil Tour Just Getting Started
Bayer Leverkusen are on a pre-season training tour in Brazil as they prepare for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. Despite the poor start, Ten Hag will hope to use the tour to assess his squad and integrate his tactical ideas.
Boniface and Tella, both key players in last season’s title-winning campaign, are expected to play a crucial role once the season begins.
