AFCON 2025
Arguably the best match on the night, Julian Alvarez-inspired Atletico Madrid showed resilience and discipline as they came from a goal and a man down to defeat Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night.
Julian Alvarez once again proved to critics that he’s worth e every penny Atletico Madrid paid to Manchester City for his services last summer.
The Argentine striker scored twice in the second half including a 90th minute winner to secure three points over the German champions.
Atletico Madrid had a difficult start to the match as they were reduced to 10 men after Pablo Barrios made a rash tackle on Nordi Mukiele on the 24th minute.
Bayer Leverkusen took advantage of the numerical advantage and intensified pressure on Atleti’s defense.
Ecuadorian defender Piero Hincapie gave the visitors the lead from a precise header in added time of the first half.
Despite being a man down, the home side picked moments to surge forward and it paid off six minutes after the restart.
Julian Alvarez pounced on a loose ball in Leverkusen’s box and buried a low drive into bottom right corner to draw Atletico Madrid level.
Piero Hincapie got sent off after picking up a second yellow card.
With less than five minutes to end of the match, Julian Alvarez breezed past a few defenders and found himself alone with the goalkeeper.
His dummy deceived Matej Kovar and knocked him off balance before slotting the ball into an empty net.
The win takes Atletico Madrid to third spot on the log with 15 points after seven matches while Bayer Leverkusen are seventh with 13 points.
