Villarreal 4-4 Real Madrid: Sorloth nets four as Yellow Submarine come back from three-goals down in eight-goal thriller

Villarreal forward Alexander Sorloth scored four goals in 17 minutes to help his side come back and draw 4-4 at home against champions Real Madrid on Sunday, becoming LaLiga's top scorer.

Carlo Ancelotti's side, crowned champions a fortnight ago, had the potential to reach 99 points for the season, one shy of their 2011-12 record, but will now fall short, with 94 points ahead of their final league game against Real Betis.

"The target was not the points because we don't need them, the target was to play a good game with rhythm, intensity, avoiding injuries. Everything went perfectly," Ancelotti, whose side face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final on June 1, told a news conference.

"I'm not worried ahead of the Champions League final, this was an open game. Maybe we conceded more goals than necessary but that's okay, it doesn't change anything about what the final has to be. In attack we played well."

Real took the lead in the 14th minute when Turkish youngster Arda Guler slotted home a low strike off a Brahim Diaz pass, and Joselu doubled it on the half-hour mark with a close range header.

Sorloth pulled one back for Villarreal with a towering header in the 39th minute, but Lucas Vazquez restored Real's two-goal lead a minute later, and Guler made it 4-1 in the final seconds of the first half.

However, the hosts rallied after the break, with Sorloth scoring three goals in eight minutes between the 48th and 56th, bringing his season total to 23 league goals.

Despite salvaging a point, Villarreal will miss out on European football, as they are eighth with 52 points, four behind Betis in the Europa Conference League.

"It was a match with a lot of goals, the kind that the fans like. I'll take the reaction in the second half. We will try to go to Europe next year," Villarreal forward Gerard Moreno, who provided three assists, told Movistar.

"I hope Sorloth ends up top scorer. He's a fantastic team mate. He deserves it. We're going to try to help him. He's had an incredible season."

Elsewhere, Real Sociedad clinched the final Europa League spot with a 2-0 victory over Betis, while Cadiz will be relegated after a goalless draw with Las Palmas, joining Granada and Almeria in the second tier.

SportsLigue