Feb 23, 2023 at 8:42 PMUpdate: 5 minutes ago
Juventus reached the eighth finals of the Europa League on Thursday thanks to an unleashed Ángel Di María. The Argentinian world champion shone with a hat trick against FC Nantes: 0-3.
Di María quickly asserted himself. The experienced winger surprised Nantes keeper Alban Lafont in the fifth minute with a beautifully viewed shot into the far corner.
Fifteen minutes later, he also made it 0-2 by convincingly using a penalty. The penalty kick was awarded after a handball by Nantes player Nicolas Pallois, who received a red card.
In the final phase, Di María also determined the final score. His effort turned out to be turned behind the line by keeper Lafont. The victory was more than enough for Juve after last week’s 1-1 in Turin.
The victory is a boost for Juventus, which is also experiencing a poor season. Partly due to a points penalty for financial fraud, ‘De Oude Dame’ is only seventh in the competition.
Jeremiah St. Juste had a great evening with Sporting CP. Photo: AFP
St. Juste also continues with Sporting
Sporting CP won 0-4 against FC Midtjylland through goals from Pedro Gonçalves (two), Sebastián Coates and Stefan Gardenmann (own goal). The team of base customer Jeremiah St. Juste had drawn 1-1 at home and is therefore also through in the Europa League.
Sporting’s victory is important for the battle between Portugal and the Netherlands for sixth place in the coefficient ranking. The Netherlands is still in an excellent position in the race for two direct Champions League tickets in the 2024/2025 season.
At AS Monaco-Bayer Leverkusen, the decision has not yet been made. The game ended 2-3 just like the first leg, so extra time is necessary. Dutchmen Jeremie Frimpong and Mitchel Bakker were in the base at Leverkusen.
PSV-Sevilla was the fourth Europa League match that started at 6.45 p.m. on Thursday. The team from Eindhoven tried in vain to make up for the 3-0 defeat from the first game, although they still came a long way: 2-0.
View the results and the program in the Europa League