Atletico Madrid vs. Bayer Leverkusen score: Morata comes off bench, delivers Champions League victory

Leverkusen is now 0-0-3 in the group stage

Atletico Madrid has inched closer to a spot in the Champions League knockout stage after earning a well-deserved 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday to kickoff Matchday 3. It was a second-half goal from Alvaro Morata that gave Los Colchoneros three more points in Group D, temporarily lifting the team into sole possession of first place with Juventus taking on Lokomotiv Moscow later in the day.

Atleti entered this match undefeated with a win and a draw but appeared headed for another draw as neither team could find the breakthrough well past an hour into the match. But Diego Simeone decided to bring on Morata for Angel Correa, and the moved paid off as the striker finished a cross from Lodi in the 78th minute to earn the victory. Here's the goal from the Spanish international, which came just seven minutes after coming on:

Another fine result for Atletico, but for Leverkusen, the team's run in the competition appears to be nearing its end. In a group where it was the clear third-best team on paper and with a chance to finish second, the German side has gone 0-0-3 with just a goal scored in three matches. 

They will still have a chance at finishing in third and moving on to the Europa League, but they can all but kiss a spot in the round of 16 goodbye with zero points from three matches. After recording zero shots on goal in the 3-0 loss to Juventus on Matchday 2, Leverkusen had just one shot on goal against Atleti in this one. 

The two teams meet again in Germany on Nov. 6 as part of Matchday 4, and you can see that game on fuboTV (Try for free).

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Leverkusen (Final)

Starting XIs

Atletico (4-4-2): Jan Oblak, Lodi, Felipe, Jose Gimenez, Keiran Trippier; Saul Niguez, Thomas, Hector Herrera, Koko; Diego Costa, Angel Correa.

Leverkusen (3-4-2-1): Lukas Hradecky; Sven Bender, Jonathan Tah, Lars Bender; Karim Bellarbi, Kerem Demirbay, Julian Baumgartlinger, Mitchell Weiser; Nadiem Amiri, Kai Havertz; Kevin Vollad. 

[Oct 22, 2019 at 2:32 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

It's a great ball from Lodi from the left wing that gets by Tah, and Morata heads home with power low to the left. The goalkeeper got a hand on it, but he didn't have enough force to stop it.

[Oct 22, 2019 at 2:31 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

77' Goal Atletico! Morata! He heads home a cross!

[Oct 22, 2019 at 2:30 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

15 minutes left. Open game, counter there for each team. Will either grab a winner?

[Oct 22, 2019 at 2:16 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Lemar on for Correa. Atleti going to get more width with the Frenchman.

[Oct 22, 2019 at 1:38 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Just a few minutes to go before we reach half time.