Diego Simeone's side could have secured their place in the last 16 with a win, having watched Juventus do likewise with a 2-1 victory away to Lokomotiv Moscow.

Thomas Partey's own goal gave Leverkusen a first-half lead, though, before Kevin Volland's strike secured a first win in a Champions League group game for Peter Bosz at the 10th time of asking.

Alvaro Morata got a late consolation after Nadiem Amiri had been sent off.

Atleti have struggled in attack in recent weeks and offered little threat to Lukas Hradecky's goal in the first half, with centre-back Felipe coming close to an own goal when he flicked a corner onto the crossbar.

Just four minutes later, Atleti failed to clear their lines after Jan Oblak punched a corner off the line, with Thomas completely miscuing his defensive header to send the ball into his own net.

It was the fourth UEFA Champions League goal for Leverkusen to be scored by an opposition player out of the last five, but there was little by way of mere fortune about their second, Volland controlling Karim Bellarabi's cross before rifling a low shot past Oblak.

Morata turned the ball in from Vitolo's cross only to be correctly ruled offside, as Atleti's late pressure could not prevent their 11-game unbeaten run in all competitions from coming to an end.

The match ended in tempestuous fashion, with four players booked after a melee in the Atleti penalty area and Amiri shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Santiago Arias.

Morata pulled a goal back in additional time, gathering Thomas' throughball and finishing emphatically past Hradecky, who then stuck out a leg to deny the striker an equaliser with almost the last kick of the game.