Although it was overshadowed by the 5-3 lunacy that took place in Manchester, Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid played their own fantastically hilarious game of soccer in Germany Tuesday.
Atletico prevailed 4-2 on goals from Saul Niguez, Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro and Fernando Torres, but they easily could have had eight or nine. Griezmann probably should have had a hat trick in the first half but was denied by Bernd Leno twice.
On the other side, Karim Bellarabi scored and Leverkusen benefitted from a comical own goal that Chicharito probably would have poked in anyway. The Mexican striker had an attempt cleared off the line by Filipe Luis in the second half and had a penalty shout denied in the first after being hit in the face.
Both teams played wide-open soccer the whole time, and it was a joy to watch.
If Bayer Leverkusen are to have any hope of advancing, their defense has to get much better very quickly. Atletico are clearly in the driver's seat after scoring four away goals, but, hey, it's the Champions League. As we saw Tuesday, anything can happen.
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