Sevilla 4 - 2 Villarreal: Yevhen Konoplyanka stars as Sevilla beat Villarreal

Yevhen Konoplyanka scored a brilliant long-range goal as Sevilla beat Villarreal 4-2 win in a thrilling game to keep Unai Emery's side's hopes of a top-four finish alive.

Vicente Iborra put Sevilla ahead midway through the first half but Cedric Bakambu gave the visitors the lead before the break with two impressive finishes.

Villarreal defender Victor Ruiz scored an own goal in the second half to put the teams back on level terms, and then Konoplyanka's rocket gave Sevilla the lead for a second time.

Ever Banega was sent off for a second booking on 80 minutes but Jose Antonio Reyes clinched victory by scoring in injury time, cutting the gap between Sevilla and fourth-placed Villarreal to five points.

Sevilla opened the scoring with a quick counter attacking move beginning in their area and ending with Gameiro racing down the left and beating a defender before rolling the ball across to the far post for Iborra to nudge in.

It did not take long for the visitors to respond.

Antonio Rukavina got down the right to cross into the box, and the ball was only partially cleared, allowing Bakambu to stroke into the bottom corner first time.

The Congolese, who scored both of Villarreal's in their 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday, then finished off a sumptuous chipped pass from Adrian to volley in at the near post from a difficult angle.

Sevilla got back into the game with the help of a mistake by Victor Ruiz, who tried to prevent Gameiro meeting Konoplyanka's cross but sent the ball into the near corner instead.

Konoplyanka then scored one of the goals of the season, sensationally shooting into the far top corner from 35 yards out.

The Ukranian was taken off shortly afterwards though with a suspected muscle injury and could miss Sevilla's crucial Europa League Round of 16 second leg with Basle.

Villarreal were lifted by Banega's sending off but Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico and defender Daniel Carrico each made a block to keep out an equaliser, and then Reyes sealed the points at the other end.