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Alvarez has now netted in three straight UEFA Champions League games, in which he has scored a total of five goals. 

He has had a hand in 14 goals in his past 13 home UEFA Champions League appearances for Manchester City and Atletico combined, with 11 goals and three assists. An incredible 79 per cent of his goals in the competition have come on home soil.

Piero Hincapie opened the scoring as he put Leverkusen ahead just before the interval, but Alvarez equalised seven minutes into the second half before hitting a 90th-minute winner.

Both teams finished the game with 10 men, but Atletico played more than an hour a player down after midfielder Pablo Barrios was sent off in the 25th minute.

Leverkusen goalscorer Hincapie then also saw red in the 76th minute.

Barrios was given his marching orders after a reckless studs-up tackle from behind on Jeremie Frimpong, before Hincapie nodded a dominant Leverkusen team ahead in first-half stoppage-time.

But Diego Simeone's side found a way back through Alvarez, who battled past Leverkusen captain Jonathan Tah and finished past Matej Kovar to make it 1-1.

After Hincapie received his second yellow, Alvarez secured the victory as he rounded goalkeeper Kovar and tapped the ball into an empty net for Atletico's fifth win in seven matches in the competition.

Third-placed Atletico has 15 points while Leverkusen is sixth on 13 points.

The three points leaves Simeone's side third in the league phase, with its final match coming against Red Bull Salzburg, which has already been knocked out, next week. 

Atletico is the first team in UEFA Champions League history to have three 90th-minute winners in one season, having also done so against RB Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain.

"It's a game that will be remembered by the people that saw it," Simeone said. "They were better in the first half. They didn't let us get the ball. One team played, and the other didn't get into the game.

"What happened in the second half isn't a coincidence, the team has done it in other games. We equalised, they had the sending off, we felt we could win it. We took the chance we had, and won an emotional Champions League game. It's a beautiful moment for the fans."

Goalscorer Alvarez acknowledged the part his team-mates played in Atletico's turnaround victory, suggesting that their fitness and belief got them the three points.

"[After Barrios' red card] we knew that we had to multiply ourselves playing as a team. These are three very important points and help us to continue believing in what we are doing," Alvarez said.

"I'm very happy because it wasn't easy for everything that happened in the game, being down a man, conceding a goal, it wasn't looking good, but we played our game with humility.

"The equaliser came and in the last few minutes we knew we could find the win if we left everything we had on the pitch." 

On the other side of things, Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso was disappointed with the manner of the goals his side conceded and the lack of maturity he thinks it showed.

"Julian equalised out of nothing," Alonso said. "It's not just about football, it's about maturity. We have to improve if we want to compete.

"I think when you're competing at the highest level you have to learn from these experiences.

"In these situations, it's not just football that counts, it's also the maturity that we have at that moment and today I think we lacked that point at the highest level and we have to improve that if we want to compete in these matches.

"We're still in the group stage but if you're in the round of 16, in the quarter-final, especially when you play away from home, you have to learn from these moments.

"Understand what it is that you need, not only in the game itself but the game's energy, reading the game and learning what to do when you're a bit overwhelmed by the situation, how to react.

"It's very easy to say it but the best thing is when you live it on the pitch that's where you learn how to read it, which sometimes is complicated. For us it's a good experience to be competing at such a high level."