Ben Brereton has confirmed his Rovers departure on the back of his match-winning double at Millwall.

The 24-year-old scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season as Rovers came from 3-1 down at half time to leave The Den with all three points.

Ultimately it wasn’t enough to secure a play-off finish, missing out on goal difference after Sunderland’s win at Preston North End.

Brereton signed off with his double, leaving the pitch to a standing ovation soon after his 86th minute winner, and both he and Jon Dahl Tomasson confirmed that proved to be his farewell appearance.

The Chile international told that to Sky Sports at the end of the game, but wouldn’t confirm any further details.

However, it is expected that Brereton will sign a bumper long-term deal with La Liga side Villarreal, with wages far in excess of anything Rovers would have been able to offer.

It means that for the second time in three years Rovers will lose their top scorer, but unlike Adam Armstrong, Brereton will do so on a free transfer and bringing an end to his five-year stay at Ewood Park.

“All I can say really is I’ve had a great time at Blackburn Rovers and unfortunately I’m not going to be there next season, but I don’t want to say anything more about it now,” he said at the end of the game.

“It’s been a great time here, I’ve enjoyed all my time at the club, I’ve made some great friends, but that’s my time at Blackburn Rovers done.”

While the day ended on a winning note for Rovers, it started in nightmare fashion, trailing after eight minutes to a Duncan Watmore strike, and it was almost two when Tom Bradshaw turned in from close range, only to be ruled out for offside.

Rovers equalised through Adam Wharton but two poor goals conceded on the stroke of half time saw them go into the break with a two-goal deficit.

“Coming here, last game of the season, it was a crazy atmosphere. Fair play to the Millwall fans for that, it was hard to play in,” Brereton explained.

“I thought they were really good in the first half, we got in the dressing room really disappointed with our first half and we said ‘we’ve got nothing to lose, let’s just give it a good go for the fans that have travelled all the way here and hopefully we’ll get in the play-offs’, but unfortunately it’s not happened.”

Rovers roared back into the game, with Joe Rankin-Costello reducing the deficit when turning in from close range after George Long failed to fully deal with a Brereton free kick.

Brereton then curled home a peach of an equaliser at the midway point of the second half before then going close when being denied by the post.

The crossbar, and goal-line clearance from Scott Malone, then denied him before he did eventually find the back of the net for a second time when tapping home a Sam Szmodics cross.

And Brereton reflected on missing out on the play-offs: “We probably should be in there with the games we’ve had, conceding late on, but that’s football.

“The last few weeks have been disappointing, with the late goals against us and a few things not going our way, and it hurts because we wanted to get this club back into the Premier League, but the boys showed great desire.

“It’s a good result to end the season and a good fightback, which shows the spirit in the team.

“Second half we created a lot of chances and played some really good football, which is what we’ve been working on all season.

“Credit to all the boys. They’re a great set of lads and I was happy to get two goals.”