It's a well-deserved win for Atletico, says boss Diego Simeone

Atletico Madrid's Saul Niguez (left) celebrates his goal with teammate Antoine Griezmann against Leverkusen on Tuesday. Pic/AFP

Madrid: Diego Simeone felt the best team won at the BayArena as Atletico Madrid claimed a "thrilling" 4-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash.

Atletico Madrid's forward Fernando Torres (C) and his teammates applaud after the UEFA Champions League. Pic/PTI

Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann gave Atletico a 2-0 half-time lead. Kevin Gameiro, with a penalty, restored the two-goal advantage after Karim Bellarabi had pulled one back. But Stefan Savic diverted the ball into his own net to further cut Atletico's advantage, before Fernando Torres struck four minutes from time to give the visitors four away goals and a commanding first-leg lead.

Diego Simeone

Simeone said: "It has been an exciting game, thrilling for the people who watched it on TV. We take with us a good result. They got on top because they scored an unexpected goal. The result is fair, it could have been larger if we had been more precise but their keeper is very good despite. I'm very happy with the work of the team, that continues to grow."

Atletico Madrid's French forward Antoine Griezmann celebrate after scoring goal. Pic/PTI

Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt said: "We took a while finding our game. Atletico were merciless in punishing our mistakes. We didn't play how we know we can, but I'm proud of our response in the second half."