Europa League: Angel delight for Juventus, Sevilla survive scare at PSV
- Planet Sport writer
- 23 February 2023
An Angel di Maria hat-trick saw Juventus ease to a 3-0 win over 10-man Nantes, while Sevilla survived a scare at PSV Eindhoven to continue their bid for a record-extending seventh Europa League crown.
The Italian giants progressed 4-1 on aggregate on Thursday night.
The Argentina winger opened the scoring in the fifth minute before home defender Nicolas Pallois was dismissed for a handball inside the box in the 20th minute.
Di Maria slotted home from the subsequent spot-kick and completed his treble with a 78th-minute header.
Sevilla survived a scare at PSV Eindhoven to continue their bid for a record-extending seventh Europa League crown.
The Spanish side were leading 3-0 from the first meeting but second-leg goals from Luuk De Jong and Fabio Silva earned PSV a 2-0 win on the night, although it was not enough to deny the 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020 champions.
Bayern Leverkusen are also in Friday's draw after beating Monaco 5-3 on penalties following a 5-5 aggregate draw.
Breel Embolo's 84th-minute goal levelled the tie on aggregate, but Leverkusen converted all five of their penalties to seal victory.
Fellow Bundesliga side Union Berlin also reached the last 16 after easing through in an entertaining 3-1 second-leg win over Ajax.
After the first tie finished goalless, Robin Knoche's penalty put Union ahead on Thursday night and Josip Juranovic added a second before half-time.
Mohammed Kudus brought Ajax back into the game with a goal just minutes after the break, but Danilho Doekhi soon restored Union's two-goal cushion and the Eredivisie side's night was soured further when Edson Alvarez was sent off at the end.
First-half goals from Andrea Belotti and Paulo Dybala saw Jose Mourinho's Roma overturn a first-leg deficit to beat Salzburg 2-1 on aggregate while Pedro Goncalves' double helped secure Sporting Lisbon a convincing 4-0 second-leg win against FC Midtjylland.
Sebastian Coates' header put Sporting ahead and Midtjylland were reduced to 10 men just before half-time when Paulinho was shown his second yellow card in two minutes.
Goncalves helped Sporting take full advantage after the interval, hitting a sweet volley from the edge of the box into the bottom corner before adding a second. The scoring was completed five minutes from time with a Stefan Gartenmann own goal sealing a 5-1 aggregate win for the Portuguese side.
