Atletico Madrid defensive midfielder Mario Suarez chose an excellent time to score his first Champions League goal, opening the scoring in the 25th minute of his side's round-of-16 fixture versus Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
After Leverkusen did a solid job of defending a threatening free kick, a series of headers saw the ball eventually fall to Suarez, who fired a 20-yard shot through traffic that found the back of the net following a deflection off defender Omer Toprak.
The goal levelled the score on aggregate at 1-1.
Almost a year has passed since Atleti last scored a European goal from outside the box ...
Atletico Madrid: Mario Suarez's goal is Atletico's first from outside the box in the CL since Diego's vs Barcelona in April 2014
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2015
... and it's worth noting that Suarez's strike marked the first shot on target in either of Wednesday's Champions League fixtures.
Mario Suarez's goal was the first shot on target from ANY of the four teams playing in the Champions League tonight. pic.twitter.com/rUFGQRtHln
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 17, 2015