Nigeria international forward Victor Boniface won’t be involved for Bayer Leverkusen in their UEFA Champions League (UCL) game against Brest tomorrow after missing their final session ahead of the game, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Boniface was involved in a car accident two days ago, but escaped with minor injuries however he isn’t considered well enough mentally to be involved in tomorrow’s game in France.
The trip that led to the accident was for the 23 year old to pick up his friend who was the one driving when the unfortunate accident happened. It was said he lost control of the vehicle due to the fatigue leading to the accident.
They were suggestions that the Nigerian did not use the night after the Frankfurt game for the necessary regeneration for Wednesday’s Champions League match in Brest either – behavior for which repercussions could be in order. The club has not yet taken a public stance on the consequences of the accident.
Club’s director Simon Rolfes was asked about if the club will place a possible fine on the Nigerian over the incident on Tuesday before leaving for France for the UEFA Champions League game. “No, it was a day off. And the players are also allowed to sit in the car on their day off. When friends or family come to visit, players are sometimes allowed to pick up family from the airport on their day off.”
He went further to defend Boniface on the suggestions that the Nigerian had stayed up late too (based on the fact that his friend lost control of the car because of fatigue): “It is unprofessional to draw conclusions about Boni’s condition from the condition of the driver and how he spent the night.
” So of course it’s not good that the situation has arisen, without question, but to draw conclusions about Boni because of that is unprofessional for me. As I said, fortunately it didn’t turn out badly. Of course it’s not good when a driver goes into a tour like that tired. There’s no question about that.”
