Manchester City overcame an onslaught from Monaco's prolific attack to score three late goals in 11 minutes for a 5-3 win in a wild Champions League game on Tuesday.

The highest-scoring first leg in a Champions League knockout match was breathless from start to finish, leaving both coaches to congratulate their teams on producing a Round of 16 game to remember.

"It's something special for football," City manager Pep Guardiola said. "When two teams want to attack and attack, the football is marvelous."

City was on the ropes when Radamel Falcao scored with a glorious chip, his second goal of the game, to put Monaco 3-2 ahead in the 61st minute at Etihad Stadium. At that stage, Monaco — the highest-scoring team in Europe's top leagues — was threatening to score at will and City looked like it was heading out of the competition.

But in a stunning turnaround, Sergio Aguero volleyed in a 71st-minute equalizer for his second goal of the night, John Stones prodded home from a corner in the 77th, and Leroy Sane pushed City further ahead with a tap-in in the 82nd.

"I imagine everyone was happy to witness such a spectacle," said Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim, who was willing to excuse his young team for its late collapse.

Guardiola was keen to stress that the match is far from over. In a damning indictment of his defense, he said City would have to score in the second leg on March 15 to stand any chance of going through.

"If one team can score a thousand-million goals, it's Monaco," Guardiola said. "It's a long time since I saw a team attack with such a huge amount of good players."

The night's other last-16 first leg was also a goal feast, with Atletico Madrid winning 4-2 at Bayer Leverkusen as French forwards Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro overwhelmed German side's defense.

They both scored for Atletico, last season's losing finalist, along with Saul Niguez and Fernando Torres.

Coming into the match, Monaco's players had scored 108 goals in all competitions this season and they put on another attacking show against City after falling behind to Raheem Sterling's goal in the 26th minute.

Falcao, making a successful return to England after disappointing spells on loan at Manchester United and Chelsea, equalized with a diving header after City goalkeeper Willy Caballero's pass from the back was picked off by Fabinho. Kylian Mbappe, a highly rated 18-year-old winger making his first Champions League start, then exposed more poor defending from City by latching onto Fabinho's free kick and lifting a shot past Caballero.

Guardiola was incensed in his technical area, revealing afterward his frustration at being unable to control a chaotic game.

The visitors, so mobile on the break, had City exactly where they wanted them and Falcao had a great chance to put Monaco 3-1 ahead when he was fouled by Nicolas Otamendi as he was about to apply a close-range finish. A penalty was awarded, but Caballero made amends for his earlier error by guessing the right way and smothering Falcao's low, weak attempt.

Then it was the Monaco goalkeeper's turn to make a mistake, with Danijel Subasic failing to stop Aguero's low shot and the ball dribbling slowly into the net for City's first equalizer.

That set the tone for a chaotic final half hour, which Jardim said was played at "150 percent speed."

Falcao held off Stones and applied a deft chip over Caballero to restore Monaco's lead, but City came roaring back.

Aguero met an outswinging corner with a sweet volley into the corner and, from another corner, Yaya Toure glanced on Kevin De Bruyne's cross and Stones was at the far post to poke in a volley.

Sane gave City a potentially crucial two-goal cushion when Aguero was set free by De Bruyne, and squared the ball for Sane to virtually walk into an empty net.

City scored five goals from six shots on target and Guardiola promised another open game at Monaco.

"We are going to fly to Monaco to score as many goals as possible," he said.

"You have to live these kinds of situations, be in trouble and become a better team," Guardiola added. "Huge compliment to the players to be there — don't give up and be there. We are still there."

French forwards Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro tore Bayer Leverkusen's defense apart to put the Champions League quarterfinals within reach for Atletico Madrid with a 4-2 away victory on Tuesday.

Gameiro created one goal for Griezmann and scored another, with Saul Niguez setting the Spanish side on its way, before substitute Fernando Torres completed the scoring in the Round of 16 match.

"We came back well and always believed in ourselves, but you have to admit that Atletico simply did well," said Karim Bellarabi, who pulled one back for Leverkusen.

Manchester City defeated Monaco 5-3 in the night's other first leg game.

Leverkusen was under pressure early on, with Benjamin Henrichs - who was booked and will miss the second leg in Madrid - forced to clear for a corner. Griezmann was then denied by goalkeeper Bernd Leno, seconds before Wendell was relieved to see an attempted clearance come off the crossbar.

The goal duly came in the 17th minute, when Niguez skipped over Kevin Kampl's weak challenge on the right, ducked inside and unleashed a brilliant dipping shot over Leno and under the bar.

Griezmann made it 2-0 on a counterattack eight minutes later. Aleksandar Dragovic botched an attempt to kick the ball and Gameiro needed no further invitation to race onto it, drawing two defenders including the hapless Dragovic toward him, before pulling it back for the unmarked Griezmann to score off the crossbar.

Atletico was ruthlessly taking advantage of the space the German side was leaving in defense.

"It was an outstanding game from us," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. "The first half was as good as perfect, intelligent and clever."

Leno was forced to save from Griezmann after another well-worked counter involving Gameiro, who was justifying Simeone's decision to give him the nod over Torres following his quick-fire hat trick at the weekend. Gameiro was still clearly high on confidence after three goals in four minutes, 47 seconds against Sporting Gijon on Saturday, La Liga's second-quickest recorded hat trick.

Bellarabi scored just after the break, before Gameiro - who had earlier hit the post - restored Atletico's two-goal lead with a penalty awarded after he was pulled back on the edge of the area by Dragovic before the hour mark. Dragovic was reacting in desperation after the French forward played the ball through his legs.

An own goal from Atletico's Stefan Savic, who deflected in the rebound when Miguel Angel Moya cut out Julian Brandt's cross, gave Leverkusen renewed hope in the 68th minute. But substitute Torres struck with four minutes remaining for Atletico to take a huge advantage back to Spain for the second leg on March 15.

"We invited Atletico to score in the first half," Leverkusen captain Omer Toprak said. "We wanted to play better in the second - we did play better - but unfortunately it's not a good result."