Ángel Di María 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 league campaign in which they have been deducted 15 Serie A points for financial irregularities. Argentine Di María 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 another goal from Di María. The 35-year-old had no problem converting the resulting penalty. Di María 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. Sporting knocked Midtjylland out after thrashing their hosts 4-0 in Denmark to advance to the last 16 5-1 on aggregate. After fighting back to draw 1-1 at home in the first leg of the playoff tie, Sporting dominated proceedings at Midtjylland and took the lead in the 21st minute with a close-range header by defender Sebastián Coates from a rebound off the crossbar. Sporting’s job got a lot easier after Midtjylland full-back Paulinho was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in two minutes for rough fouls, leaving the Danish side with 10 men. Pedro Gonçalves extended Sporting’s lead in the 50th minute with a volley from a rebound and scored his second in the 77th when his long-range strike deflected in off a defender. Stefan Gartenmann scored a comical own-goal five minutes from time when he tried to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper. Luuk de Jong and Fábio Silva snatched late goals for PSV Eindhoven as they beat Sevilla 2-0 in the second leg of their Europa League knockout stage playoff, but it was not enough as the Spanish club advanced 3-2 on aggregate. Sevilla kept up an attacking approach at the Philips Stadium after a dominant first leg and came closest to a first goal when Ivan Rakitic hammered the ball against the PSV crossbar in the 67th minute. PSV belatedly put their visitors under pressure and should have taken a 70th-minute lead when Johan Bakayoko missed from an acute angle. But it was De Jong who netted in the 77th minute, against his old club, to offer PSV hope of a late revival and had the ball in the net again seven minutes later, only to be flagged offside. Substitute Silva added a second five minutes into stoppage time to further reduce Sevilla’s first-leg lead but the Dutch club ran out of time in their bid for a comeback. Bayer Leverkusen beat Monaco 5-3 on penalties after winning a frantic second leg of their Europa League playoff 3-2 to send the game into extra time with the teams locked at 5-5 on aggregate. Monaco midfielder Eliot Matazo hit the bar in the second round of spot-kicks and winger Moussa Diaby sealed victory for the German side and sent them through to the last 16. Leverkusen, who lost 3-2 in the home leg last week, levelled the tie in the 13th minute through midfielder Florian Wirtz before Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder equalised six minutes later from the spot following Edmond Tapsoba’s foul on Eliesse Ben Seghir. Leverkusen took the lead again in the 21st minute, when midfielder Exequiel Palacios struck from the edge of the box following a corner and Amine Adli made it 3-1 before the hour mark with a fine header. Monaco, however, levelled the tie once more through Breel Embolo’s header to send them into extra time. Union Berlin cruised past Ajax 3-1 on Thursday to book a spot in the Europa League round of 16 with the club’s biggest European victory to date. The Berliners, in the Bundesliga only since 2019, advanced 3-1 on aggregate after a goalless playoff first leg in Amsterdam, amid wild celebrations from their fans at the Alte Foersterei stadium. Unbeaten in 2023, Union are joint top of the Bundesliga alongside leaders Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund and they struck twice in an efficient first half. A Robin Knoche penalty put them in front before defender Josip Juranovic’s shot from outside the box slipped through the fingers of Geronimo Rulli. The former European champions pulled a goal back in the 47th minute with Mohammed Kudus turning in a Steven Bergwijn cross but Union, who have conceded just three goals in the Europa League this season, restored their two-goal lead with Danilho Doekhi’s darting header three minutes later. Ajax’s miserable night was compete when Edson Álvarez was sent off following a second booking in stoppage time.