Angel Di Maria happy to finally ‘raise the bar’ at Juventus

Angel Di Maria has revealed that he had been waiting a long while to show his level at Italian club Juventus after a night to remember in the Europa League.

Di Maria was the inspiration as Juventus thrashed Super Eagles star Moses Simon and his Nantes side 3-0 in the second leg of the Europa League playoff.

He opened the scoring with a stunning left-footed curler five minutes into the game and then doubled the advantage 15 minutes later from the penalty spot to give Juventus a comfortable 3-1 lead on aggregate.

Di Maria completed his hat-trick in the second half he wrapped up the tie 12 minutes from time to give Juventus a 4-1 aggregate win and a place in the round of 16.

After the game, the 35-year-old admitted that his performance on the night was overdue.

According to the World Cup winner, the Old Lady wanted to qualify for the next round and he's happy that he was able to finally raise the bar for the club.

“I am truly happy to have been able to finish off the good work of the team and turn it into goals,” Di Maria said, according to football Italia.

"We wanted to get through to the next round, the Europa League is very important for us. I had been waiting a long time for an opportunity like this with the Juve jersey and I have been able to raise the bar."

Di Maria joined the former Italian champions as a free agent after leaving Ligue 1 giants Paris St Germain when his contract expired.

However, his time in Turin has seen the former Real Madrid star heavily criticised following a not-so-impressive start to life with the Biaconeri.

But Di Maria believed he could offer more to the club and is in a happier mood now, especially after the remarkable outing against Nantes.

“I try to help the team, we won and are in the Round of 16. This result means a great deal for our season, winning here with the entire stadium cheering against us, but we got what we wanted," he added.

“I know that there was criticism and I felt bad because I knew I could’ve given more. It took me a while to find my form, then I had relapses with the injury. It wasn’t easy on a psychological level either, but I am happy now.”