Predictably, Atlético showed more aggression up front in the early minutes, while Villarreal were content to keep the ball and bide their time.
It was the latter approach that worked in the first half, though it owed a lot of its vindication to Luiz Júnior, who had work to do just after the 20-minute mark, palming away a strong effort from Julián Alvarez, who was still on a high after his brace saw a 10-man Atlético side come from behind to beat Leverkusen in midweek.
Atlético were expected to create more chances from that point, but if there was any momentum to be built, it was snuffed out just six minutes later, when Reinildo Mandava brought down Gerard Moreno inside the box as he tried to block an effort on goal.
Moreno himself took the penalty, firing low and hard into the bottom-right corner past Jan Oblak’s futile lunge.
The hosts’ response was muted, and indeed it could have been two for Moreno before HT, but for the quick intervention of Axel Witsel to snuff him out just before HT.
The start of the second half mirrored that potential twist to perfection, as the Belgian was forced to prevent a certain goal from Moreno, after Yéremy Pino broke through on the right flank and tried to square the ball.
At the other end, Ángel Correa – having seen a shot of his own held by Luiz Júnior – was left frustrated again as his shot was headed off the line by Logan Costa.
However, Atlético finally drew level just prior to the hour mark, when a squared ball into the penalty box from Nahuel Molina caused chaos, allowing a succession of passes that culminated in a rebound falling to Samuel Lino, who gleefully smashed the ball in from inches out to level proceedings.
Far from crumbling, however, Villarreal could have retaken the lead with 10 minutes of normal time to go, as Ayoze Pérez sent a header just wide of the right post.
With the two sides having scored a combined tally of 17 goals in the 90th minute or later, there was ample reason to expect a sudden twist at the end.
Indeed, Pablo Barrios could have snatched a dramatic late winner with a rasping shot after a failed clearance from Villarreal, before Antoine Griezmann fired narrowly wide from Lino’s snap-pass into the box.
It was backs to the wall for the Yellow Submarine late on, but they held out for a respectable point, consolidating their fifth-placed standing while denying Atlético the chance to go provisionally top of LaLiga.