Angel Di Maria bagged his first Juventus hat-trick to help the Italian giants scale through to the next round of the Europa League after beating Nantes 3-0 in the play-off second leg.

After a 1-1 draw in Turin, Nantes hosted Juventus to the Stadium de la Beaujoire in a tightly placed Europa League match.

Antoine Kombouare’s team, playing in Europe for the first time in 22 years, advanced to the knockout stages after placing second in Group G, just one point behind Qarabag.

The French team was extremely confident after their remarkable Ligue 1 performance, which saw them lose only three of their 14 home matches across all competitions.

Di Maria, however, had more ambitious plans for the evening.

The Argentine forward scored two goals in a matter of seconds to inflict the majority of the misery on Nantes in the first half.

HT | ⏳ | Di Maria the difference at the break 🌟#NANJUV #UEL pic.twitter.com/7pEga0Lz5m

— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) February 23, 2023

Di Maria scored again from the penalty spot, this time finding the top edge with a superb shot.

Pallois was dismissed for using his arm to block the ball on the line, giving Nantes an extremely difficult task to get back in the game.

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At the halftime, Rabiot and Kostic came close to adding a third goal but were unable to challenge Lafont in the Nantes goal.

Cuadrado attempted to score a third goal in the second half, but the goalkeeper stopped him after blocking his effort from a close angle.

In 78 minutes, Angel Di Maria finished off his first Juventus hat-trick by striving for a goal. Sandro’s attempt was blocked, and Vlahovic received the ball.

His cross on the byline reached the Juventus star player, who headed past Lafont.

FT | ⌛️ | Round of 16, here we come! 💪⚪️⚫️ #NANJUV #UEL pic.twitter.com/L5Abi0lyjU

— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) February 23, 2023

Although the goalkeeper attempted to block it, Di Maria’s shot had already crossed the goal line.

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