Barcelona hero Lionel Messi became the first La Liga player to score 20 leaguegoals in nine consecutive seasons as the Catalan giants converted an unconvincing display into three points -which could prove vital come the end of the season.
Goals from Rafinha and Diego Godin left the game in stalemate, but the Argentine's 86th minute winner sees Barca go top of La Liga andpile the pressure onto fellow title hopefuls Real Madrid and Sevilla.
The hosts started the game well andhad two great chances in the opening four minutes to take the lead.
After just 60 secondsYannickCarrasco found himselfin acres of space after a ball in from the right hand side caught outmake-shift defender SergiRoberto -who hadstepped uptrying tocatch the 23-year-old in an offside position without his teammates joining him, but the Atleti winger failed to hit the target from 10 yards out.
Just moments later Madridcaptain Godin spurned another great chance when a poorly cleared corner fell to the Uruguay internationalin a similar position asCarrasco,but the 31-year-old could only poke his effort over the bar ofMarc-André ter Stegen's goal.
The Barca custodian's goal wascontinuouslypeppered throughout the opening 25 minutes -most notably byAntoine Griezmann, but the 24-year-old stopped the Madrid attackerfrom producing the spectacular.
The young German produced an eye-catching diving save to stronglypalm away a speculative 25-yard effort from the France international that was rifling for the top right hand corner.
Minutes later the hosts were nearly punished for theirwastefulnessas Suarez thought he had opened the scoring following the first meaningful attack by the visitors.
Lionel Messi's stinging shot was fumbled by Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak into the path of of the former Liverpool striker, but the referee had stopped play before the ball was eventually bundled over the line for a foul on the shot stopper following a ruckus in the area.
FollowingTer Stegen's superb saveearlier in the half, the hosts'custodianproved he was capable in producing even better during the last 10 minutes ofthefirst-half.
Barcelona's magicianMessi wasmillisecondsaway from wheelingawayin celebration after his beautifully struckfree-kick from the edge of arealooked to have given his side the lead.
But Oblak somehow managed to get the faintest of touches and turned the shot over the crossbar, somethingthemajorityof theVicente Calderon Stadium reacted to withrapturousapplause.
The 24-year-old goalkeeperwas called into action again just moments before half-time to expertly deny thetowering Pique who had found space at the back post from a whipped corner.
The Spaniard drilled his header towards goal from close range but theSlovenian, who had decided to stay on his line, smothered the effort leaving the Barcelona defender in disbelief he did not hit the back of the net.
Inside the first five minutes of the second-half, Suarez was handed a brilliant opportunity to take the lead for his side after being fed into the left-hand channel by Messiwith only Oblak to beat, but the Barca talisman rushed his shot and dragged the effortwide - fitting to how the Catalans had performed in the opening 50 minutes.
But the visitors finally broke thedeadlock just afterthehour mark when Madrid were punished for missing aplethoraof chances as Rafinha turned the ball past a wide-spread Oblak sending thetravellingsupporters intoecstasy.
Suarez made up for his spurned chance earlier in the half when hewrestled with several Atletico defenders on the edge of the areaand eventually bundled the ball through into space before firing an effort towards goal which deflected kindly into the path of the Barcelona central midfielder.
The 24-year-old took his shotfirsttime and watched hisscuffed effort rollinto the bottom left-hand corner to give his side an underserving lead.
Barca's leaddidn'tlast long however, as seven minutes late captainGodin caused theVicente Calderon to erupt aftermanaging to apply the slightest of touches to a dangerously goal-bound Kokefree-kick from the farleft-handtouchline.
The Uruguayinternational roseabove three opposition defenders and altered the flight of the ball just enough to beatthe wide-spreadTerStegen.
It looked as if it was to be a result that suited neither side greatly, but Barca snatched a late winner, as for the second week in a row Messi came up with the goods to secure three vital points for his side in the La Liga title chase.
The 29-year-old Argentine managed to firehomehis own deflected effort past Oblakafter the attacker'sinitial shot was blocked by a heroic defensivesliding tackle inside the area.
The result sees the Catalans now sit top of La Liga -two points ahead of Real Madrid and Sevilla, but with the former league leadersstill having two games in hand on Barcelona, there are stillplenty of twists and turns in the title race to come.
1�⃣1�⃣ We have our XI!
Find out who @Simeone has chosen to play @FCBarcelona! �#AtletiFCB #GoAtleti pic.twitter.com/Y8SQibH7fU
 XI:
1. Ter Stegen
3. Piqué
5. Sergio
8. Iniesta
9. Suárez
10. Messi
11. Neymar
12. Rafinha
20. S. Roberto
23. Umtiti
24. Mathieu#FCBLive