Angel Di Maria scored a hat-trick as Juventus eased to a 3-0 win at 10-man Nantes yesterday to reach the Europa League round of 16 4-1 on aggregate. Juventus only managed a 1-1 draw against the French side in the home leg as they eyed a long run in the European competition to boost a miserable campaign in which they have been deducted 15 Serie A points for financial irregularities.
Argentine Di Maria put Juventus ahead after five minutes with a delightful curling strike from the edge of the box into the top corner.
The evening got worse for Nantes after 18 minutes when defender Nicolas Pallois was sent off when he used his arm to stop another goal from Di Maria.
The 35-year-old Di Maria had no problem converting the resulting penalty. Filip Kostic was close to getting a third for Juventus in first-half stoppage time, but his shot hit the inside of the post and the rebound landed in the hands of Nantes keeper Alban Lafont.
Juve’s Alex Sandro sent in a diving header late in the second half but Lafont was down quickly to make an impressive one-handed save. Di Maria completed his treble 12 minutes from time when he sent in a glancing header and the ball just crossed the line before being pushed away. It was Juve’s first hat-trick in a UEFA competition away from home since Filippo Inzaghi in 2000. The draw for the round of 16 will be held today.
In Eindhoven, Luuk de Jong and Fabio Silva snatched late goals for PSV Eindhoven as they beat Sevilla 2-0 in the second leg, but it was not enough as the Spanish club advanced 3-2 on aggregate. De Jong netted in the 77th minute against his old club to offer PSV hope of a late revival and had the ball in the net again seven minutes later, only to be flagged offside.
Substitute Silva added a second five minutes into stoppage time to further reduce Sevilla’s first-leg lead but the Dutch club ran out of time in their bid for a sensational comeback. Sevilla held off the late challenge to ensure progress in a competition they have won more than any other team.
They have a combined six UEFA Cup and Europa League triumphs, the last in 2020. The Spanish club kept up an attacking approach at the Philips Stadium after a dominant first leg and came closest to a first goal when Ivan Rakitic hammered the ball against the PSV crossbar in the 67th minute.
There were also good opportunities for Bryan Gil and Youssef En-Nesyri as Sevilla dominated the early exchanges.
It took 56 minutes for PSV to win their first corner as they belatedly put their visitors under pressure and should have taken a 70th-minute lead when Johan Bakayoko missed from an acute angle.
De Jong took down a long ball to score through the legs of Marko Dmitrovic and the stadium erupted when he found the net again, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag. The tie had just seconds left when Silva stroked home from close range to ensure a respectable look to the scoresheet for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s young team.
Meanwhile, Sporting Lisbon knocked FC Midtjylland out after thrashing their hosts 4-0 in Denmark to advance to the last 16 5-1 on aggregate. After fighting back to draw 1-1 at home in the first leg of the playoff tie, Sporting dominated proceedings at Midtjylland and took the lead in the 21st minute with a close-range header by defender Sebastian Coates from a rebound off the crossbar.
Sporting’s job got a lot easier after Midtjylland full back Paulinho was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in two minutes for rough fouls, leaving the Danish side with 10 men.
Pedro Goncalves extended Sporting’s lead in the 50th minute with a volley from a rebound and scored his second in the 77th when his long-range strike from deflected in off a defender.
Stefan Gartenmann scored a comical own-goal five minutes from time when he tried to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper.