After Barca’s dramatic comeback victory over Celta Vigo earlier on Saturday to win 4-3, the pressure was well and truly on Atleti.
However, their opponents were the first side to register an effort on target here just after the 20-minute mark, but centre-back Alex Suarez’s diving header from Scott McKenna’s flick-on could only be directed straight at Jan Oblak. Dário Essugo then tried his luck for the hosts, firing off target from range, but the Portuguese youngster perhaps had more time than he realised.
At the other end, hesitation from both McKenna and Suarez allowed Giuliano Simeone’s cross to find its way to the back post, but home goalkeeper Dinko Horkas came to the rescue, spreading himself to divert Julian Alvarez’s effort behind.
Horkas again got down well soon afterwards, this time to deny Alexander Sorloth following another pinpoint Simeone cross, making it tough to call a potential winner in this match as the half-time whistle was blown.
Atleti had the marquee option of Antoine Griezmann up their sleeve from the bench, with the Frenchman somewhat surprisingly left out of the starting XI in favour of Sorloth.
Ultimately, neither manager made a change at the break, but the visitors did look slightly more menacing at the start of the second half than the first, with Suárez living dangerously when it came to handball as he just about managed to thwart Conor Gallagher in Las Palmas’ box.
In quick succession either side of the hour mark, Diego Simeone was the first of the two bosses to make substitutions, with Griezmann one of four players to enter the field. Sørloth, still on the field at this point, then saw his towering header go wide.
Aside from a shot by Giuliano Simeone, however, Atleti did not look threatening late on and were punished in stoppage time as Javi Munoz took advantage of defensive chaos to convert, with the goal eventually standing following a VAR check for offside to spark wild scenes.
With this defeat, Atleti have now lost successive away league head-to-heads for the first time since 1980, while the now 17th-placed Las Palmas may regard this result as pivotal in hindsight, should they survive.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Stefan Bajcetic (Las Palmas)