Villarreal did not lose the faith and improved its game form their first goal, accompanied by an enthusiastic stadium that applauded every tackle of their team. With this hat trick, the yellow team accedes to the fifth position, only one point distance from Sevilla and Betis (in fourth and third positions), both with 41 points. This opens a real opportunity for Villarreal in the fight towards the Champions tournament classification.

Villarreal maintained their push for a place in next season's Champions League with victory against Atletico Madrid - but they did it the hard way, Juan Pablo Sorin scoring the winner in injury time to complete a magnificent comeback from 2-0 down.

Atletico, for whom the defeat represented a significant dent in their European hopes, looked in complete control at the break thanks to two goals from Spain striker Fernando Torres.

But Villarreal had other ideas and a double substitution after 61 minutes paved the way for their fightback.

Within a minute of Jose Mari and Santi Cazorla coming on, the home side reduced the arrears through Diego Forlan.

And Villarreal were given genuine hope when Luis Amaranto Perea headed into his own net with seven minutes to go.

The astonishing turnaround was complete in the dying seconds when Forlan's cross was deflected into the path of Sorin by Fernando Nano and the Argentina international made no mistake from close range.

Villarreal's sluggish start gave no indication of what was to come.

They appeared jaded from their midweek trip to Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA Cup and Atletico took full advantage.

Torres could have opened the scoring inside a minute but slipped at a crucial time and he could count himself particularly unfortunate midway through the first half when a highly debatable offside flag ruled out another effort.

But Torres was not to be denied and he made the breakthrough after 28 minutes - converting Jesper Gronkjaer's wonderful through ball with a crisp finish.

With Villarreal still reeling, lone striker Torres struck again five minutes before the break.

Playmaker Ariel Ibagaza was the supplier with an inch-perfect pass which Torres took in his stride before slipping a shot past the unprotected home goalkeeper Jose Reina.

Villarreal had to improve after the break and they duly did, creating their first chance of note eight minutes after the restart - Antonio Guayre firing in a shot which defensive midfielder Marcelo Sosa did well to well to block for a corner.

Atletico were still dangerous on the counter, however, and Gronkjaer should have wrapped the game up after 56 minutes but the Danish winger headed wide at the far post after Reina had flapped at a right wing cross.

Time was starting to run out for Villarreal but they were handed a lifeline when Sorin crossed for Forlan to fire home.

The Uruguayan was much maligned at Manchester United but he appears to regained his goalscoring touch in Spain and this was his 15th strike of an impressive season.

With Villarreal pushing forward, Atletico almost restored their two-goal advantage but Reina made a fine stop to deny Ibagaza.

And Reina's heroics at one end paved the way for Villarreal to profit at the other.

The equaliser came when a trademark whipped free-kick from Juan Roman Riquelme caused havoc in the Atletico box and the ball clipped Perea's head before flying into the corner of the net.

Villarreal tails were up and Sorin had the final say to move Manuel Pellegrini's men up into fifth place in the table, just a point behind Real Betis and Sevilla