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Kevin Gameiro came off the bench to score and create Atletico Madrid's goals as Diego Simeone's men maintained the pressure on LaLiga leader Barcelona with a battling 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Monday (AEDT).

Barca won at Eibar on Sunday (AEDT) to build its cushion back up to 10 points after Atletico had reduced the deficit thanks to successive draws from the Catalan giant.

An out-of-form Athletic side had frustrated the host for large periods at the Wanda Metropolitano and seemingly looked set to hold Atletico to a goalless draw.

It was down to Gameiro to earn Atletico its fifth straight win in all competitions, the forward drilling a shot into the bottom corner after being set up by fellow Frenchman Antoine Griezmann.

Gameiro then set up Diego Costa to mark his latest return from injury with a goal, wrapping up the points with 11 minutes to go, beating Kepa Arrizabalaga at the goalkeeper's near post.

Athletic is now winless in six games and, after it failed to create a clear chance in the game, Atleti goalkeeper Jan Oblak recorded his 16th LaLiga clean sheet of the season, putting him top of the charts for Europe's top-five leagues.

Atleti blew Copenhagen away 4-1 in the UEFA Europa League on Friday (AEDT) but took until the 14th minute to record the first effort of note, Jose Gimenez directing Griezmann's free-kick wide at full stretch.

The host should have had a penalty, however, Unai Nunez losing his footing and bringing down Costa, only for referee Jose Luis Gonzalez Gonzalez to wave away strong appeals.

Athletic failed to score in its last two LaLiga games and, shorn of the attacking threats posed by suspended duo Aritz Aduriz and Raul Garcia, they failed to record a shot on target in the first half, with Atleti having also failed to work Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Costa went to ground again immediately after the restart but the referee decided a touch in the back from defender Nunez was not enough to send the striker crashing to the turf.

The Spain striker recorded the first shot on target of the match after 50 minutes, finding space in the box to volley Sime Vrsaljko's cross at goal, but Kepa saved easily to his left.

Atletico was gradually finding more space but Costa headed over, Kepa was not troubled by Angel Correa's ambitious 30-yarder and Griezmann fired wildly off-target.

Simeone turned to Gameiro to provide more spark and the striker scored within eight minutes of his introduction for the out-of-sorts Koke.

Atletico's speed of thought resulted in an overload on the right wing after Athletic stopped in expectation of winning a free-kick, with Griezmann timing and weighting the pass out to the unmarked Gameiro perfectly for his compatriot to take a touch and rifle a low shot across Kepa.

And with Athletic leaving too many gaps at the back, Gameiro slipped Costa through on goal to wrongfoot Kepa and ensure Atletico keep LaLiga's title race very much alive.