Atletico Madrid fought back to rescue a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday as Julian Alvarez’s second-half brace cancelled out Piero Hincapie’s opener in an action-packed game which ended with both sides down to 10 men.
Atletico played more than an hour with a man down after midfielder Pablo Barrios was shown a straight red card for a reckless studs-up tackle from behind on Jeremie Frimpong in the 24th minute.
After the home side’s goalkeeper Jan Oblak had made a string of saves to deny Leverkusen, the Germans managed to break the deadlock in added time before the break with a headed goal by Hincapie.
Atletico came back better after halftime, found an equaliser through Alvarez in a quick counter-attack in the 52nd minute and took control of the action.
After Hincapie got a second booking for a foul from behind on Giuliano Simeone in the 76th, Atletico piled on the pressure until Alvarez was passed through by substitute Angel Correa to beat the offside trap, ran round the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into the empty net in the 90th minute.
The victory lifted Diego Simeone’s side to third in the standings on 15 points, three behind second-placed Barcelona and six from leaders Liverpool. Leverkusen are sixth with 13.
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