Argentine winger Ángel Di Maria and his Juventus side reached the final trophy of the European Football League tournament with a hat-trick beating Nantes, France 3-0 on Thursday in the second leg of the play-offs. .
And in the second confrontation between the two teams after the first in 1996 in the semi-finals of the Champions League, when Juventus reached the final and won the title from the penalty spot at the expense of the Dutch Ajax, winning in two matches over Nantes 4-3, the Italian team sharply needed a savior to try and save her season after he was deducted 15 points from his local league score for accusing him of financial fraud.
Di Maria was that savior on Thursday, scoring the first two goals in the first half, depriving the French team of hope to build on the result of the first leg, which was a 1-1 draw, before Di Maria also scored the third goal in the first half. last minutes.
Thus, Juventus became the only Italian team that for 11 seasons in a row (9 in the Champions League and twice in the Europa League since the 2012-2013 season) reached at least the final price round at the continental level, Opta reports. statistics.
In light of the 15-point penalty deducted from his league balance due to financial manipulation, winning the European Championship is Juventus’ only hope of qualifying for the Champions League.
In another match, the Spanish Sevilla, which specializes in Europa League competitions and holds the record (6 titles), lost to the Dutch host Eindhoven with two clean goals scored by Luc de Jong in the 77th minute and Portuguese substitute Fabio Silva (5). +90), but he settled with the qualifying card of his 3-0 win in the first leg.
And after I suffered a fatal defeat in the first leg at home 2-3 with a goal in stoppage time, the German Bayer Leverkusen responded with the same result at the stadium of their French host in Monaco and pulled out a qualifying card after winning the penalty shootout . 5-4.
Portuguese Sporting took advantage of a numerical deficit in the ranks of their Danish hosts Mittelland from the 38th minute after Brazilian defender Paulo Victor was sent off and decided to qualify by making up for a difficult 1-1 draw in the first leg at home, with a big unanswered four-way win.
Source: agencies
