SAN FRANCISCO, November 27, (THEWILL) – Brazilian centre forward Carlos Vinicius scored twice as Tottenham Hotspur edged closer to a place in the UEFA Europa League knockout stage with a comfortable 4-0 win over Bulgarian side Ludogorets.
Vinicius, who is on a season-long loan from Benfica, scored his debut goals with two clinical first half finishes in a one-sided match on Thursday.
Early in the game, another loanee, Gareth Bale, in search of his 200th career goal, tried his luck with two free-kicks and a long-range effort. Jose Mourinho had made 10 changes from the side which beat Manchester City 2-0 on Saturday handing Bale a starting slot.
It was Vinicius who broke the deadlock after latching on to a Dele Alli’s deflected pass and calmly sliding the ball home.
Alli was involved again for Vinicius’ second. The midfielder cut the ball back unselfishly for Vinicius to tap in from close range following Tanguy Ndombele’s burst forward.
The Belgian visitors found it difficult to get out of their own half and could not pull off a single shot in the first half. The less busy Spurs keeper Joe Hart touched the ball just seven times before the break, none of which were threatening.
The chance came for Bale to score when he got himself into a good position after the break, only to be denied by goalie Palmen Iliev at the far post following Matt Doherty’s knockdown.
But Iliev was embarrassed three minutes after the hour mark when central defensive midfielder Harry Winks collected the ball from a throw-in on the left flank and remarkably picked out the top-right corner, via the crossbar from yards out, with the Ludogorets keeper off his line.
For Spurs fourth and final goal, the pair of Alli and Vinicius were involved again. Lucas Moura benefitted from their clever link-up play that allowed him to fire home.
Iliev kept the deficit at 4-0 when he saved a close-range effort from substitute Harvey White, but Tottenham had done enough to take another three points.
The win moved second-placed Spurs level with Royal Antwerp at the top of Group J on nine points, although the Belgian side are ahead courtesy of their head-to-head record.
Spurs, who need just one point against LASK next week to progress to the last 32, appear good value to go the distance in the Europa League.
Mourinho’s men are back in Premier League action on Sunday against his former club Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Ludogorets host Botev Vratsa on the same day.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
