NANTES, France (Reuters) – Angel Di Maria scored a hat-trick as Juventus eased to a 3-0 win at 10-man Nantes on Thursday 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 a another goal from Di Maria. The 35-year-old Di Maria had no problem converting the resulting penalty.
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.
The draw for the round of 16 will be held on Friday.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)
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