Alvaro Morata moved Atletico Madrid a step closer to the Champions League knockout phase by securing a 1-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
Diego Simeone s side had gone four home matches in all competitions without a win and had only scored once in their past three games at Wanda Metropolitano.
They rarely looked like ending that particular run against a Leverkusen side who lost their first two Group D matches and were beaten 3-0 by Eintracht Frankfurt last Friday, until Morata s powerful 78th-minute header proved too much for Lukas Hradecky.
Atletico lost Jose Gimenez to injury after only 15 minutes but Jan Oblak s goal was relatively untroubled, despite the visitors enjoying most of the first-half possession.
Hradecky made a routine stop from a Renan Lodi shot but Simeone s forward line seemed blunted without the injured Joao Felix, with Diego Costa s frustrations compounded when he went to ground easily under pressure from Mitchell Weiser and failed to win a penalty.
Simeone threw on Morata for Koke with 20 minutes left in a bid to spark life into the attack, and the former Chelsea striker made a swift impact when he pressured Hradecky into clearing a simple ball out of play.
And Morata made the all-important breakthrough, heading home only his second goal of the season from six yards out after meeting Lodi s cross from the left.
1 Alvaro Morata has become the first ever player to score for both Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid in the European Cup/Champions League. Impact.
— OptaJose (@OptaJose)
What does it mean? Atleti closing in on last 16
The win puts Atletico on seven points from three games and gives them a promising chance of reaching the next round, even though two of their remaining three group games are away.
Leverkusen, meanwhile, are bottom of the table after three defeats in a row, leaving their hopes of progressing hanging by a thread, with Lokomotiv Moscow on three points and Juventus on four ahead of their meeting in Turin.
Morata makes the difference at last
Morata s last Champions League goal was against Atletico for Chelsea back in September 2017. This could be a hugely important one in terms of getting him back to form.
Havertz helpless
Leverkusen s highly prized 20-year-old Kai Havertz offered next to no threat in his 76 minutes on the pitch, with no shots and no chances created from the number 10 position.
What s next?
These teams meet again on matchday four on November 6 in Leverkusen. More immediately, Atletico host Athletic Bilbao in LaLiga on Saturday, when Leverkusen take on Werder Bremen.
