Di Maria boosted his season tally to seven with the well-taken brace, and although Ignatius Ganago halved the deficit for Nice, a double dismissal ended their hopes of a comeback.

Kylian Mbappe came off the bench to hit the third and Mauro Icardi sealed the victory in stoppage time.

The visitors attacked right from the off, Nice keeper Walter Benitez forced to make saves from Presnel Kimpembe and Abdou Diallo in the opening minutes.

The breakthrough arrived after a quarter of an hour, Icardi teeing up Di Maria who buried his shot into the bottom corner.

Ganago sought to equalise for Nice but fired wide, and moments later they were two behind thanks to Di Maria.

The Argentinian raced onto Thomas Meunier's ball over the top and executed a sublime chip over Benitez.

Thiago Silva headed over shortly before half-time but succumbed to injury with Marquinhos coming on.

The one-way traffic looked set to continue in the second half but against the run of play Ganago capitalised to rifle Nice back into it via the underside of the crossbar.

However Wylan Cyprien was shown a second yellow card before Christophe Herelle clashed with Leandro Paredes and earned a red, leaving Nice with nine men for the final 13 minutes.

Australian Associated Press