After a lacklustre first half display, goals from Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann helped Atletico Madrid to squeeze all three points out of their trip to Eibar and to move into fourth place, at least temporarily.
Yet their Basque hosts had dominated proceedings in the opening 45 minutes and even felt they should've had a penalty, but they couldn't capitalise and Los Rojiblancos made the most of Eibar's pardon to score a controversial offside goal at the start of the second half.
Griezmann later added a victory-sealing second, his first LaLiga goal in 822 minutes.
Roared on by the cold-braving home crowd, Eibar strutted their stuff throughout the first half, as a well-worked free-kick forced Miguel Angel Moya into a smart block in just the second minute.
The hosts continued to build up pressure and enjoyed a couple of half-chances before the Atleti shot stopper was called into action again in the 25th minute to block Adrian's shot after a good Ander Capa cross.
Then, on the half hour mark, an indignant Ipurua called for a penalty when Sime Vrsaljko inexplicably gave the ball a push with his hand after he had fallen on the ground, but the referee failed to point to the spot.
Undeterred, Jose Luis Mendilibar's men kept at the task in hand and had another great chance on the stroke of half-time when the ball trickled towards the unmarked Sergi Enrich in the six-yard box.
His untimely jelly legs saw the ball bounce out for a corner and it remained 0-0 at the break.
Just ten minutes into the second period, Los Armeros were left to rue their first-half profligacy when Atletico took a controversial lead via the head of Saul.
A short corner from the left reached Filipe Luis, who delivered a perfect cross for the midfielder to glance past Yoel in the Eibar goal, although replays would show the 22-year-old to be offside.
Rather than feel sorry for themselves, the hosts kept attacking and came close to equalising via a 69th minute scramble inside the six-yard box before Pedro Leon found space a minute later, but he dragged his shot well wide.
Shortly afterwards, however, Griezmann sealed the victory, slotting away well after substitute Kevin Gameiro's assist.
By then it was too large a deficit for the Basques and they couldn't even get a consolation goal, despite their best efforts.
Eibar and Atletico now look forward to some midweek Copa del Rey action, when they hope to seal their quarter-final places after convincing first leg victories over Osasuna and Las Palmas respectively.

Match Sheet:

0 - Eibar: Yoel; Capa, Dos Santos, Lejeune, Luna; Garcia, Rico; Leon (Pena, 76), Adrian (Nano, 82), Inui (Bebe, 68); Enrich.

2 - Atletico Madrid: Moya; Vrsaljko (Juanfran, 46), Savic, Godin, Filipe Luis; Gimenez, Gabi, Koke, Saul; Griezmann, Torres (Gameiro, 71).

Goals: 0-1 (Saul, min 54), 0-2 (Griezmann, min 74)

Referee: Gil Manzano

Yellow cards: Adrian, Vrsaljko, Koke, Bebe

Stadium: Ipurua

Attendance: 6,000