Vinicius and Winks shine as Spurs thrash Ludogorets 4-0 in Europa League
It is Carlos Vinicius and Harry Winks made an impression and played their part in the emphatic win in north London, as Tottenham Hotspur sink Covid-hit Ludogorets 4-0 in their Europa League encounter.
Carlos Vinicius netted his first Tottenham goals after moving on loan from Benfica. Harry Winks also scored his first goal since January 2019 with stunning long-range effort. It was also important for Spurs as three youngsters made their debuts from bench.
Vinicius will be grateful to Dele Alli for his first goal as he handed a great pass towards Lucas Moura taking a big deflection into his path aiding him to run through unchallenged and beat Plamen Iliev from 12 yards.
Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele coerced the goalkeeper into a low save after a superb run from midfield from which Alli wittingly squared for Vinicius to tap in a second goal before half-time.
Ludogorets looked powerless throughout the match while Spurs continued to pummel them with goal after goal. Winks looked fantastic as he fired in from the left touchline, some 50 yards out to register the third goal after the break. It was the final nail in the coffin as Moura finished it with a composed finish from Vinicius’ lay-off.
The victory handed Spurs their fifth in a trot in all competitions, and they are just a solitary point away from making it to the last 32, and they still have two games in their kitty.
Tottenham’s sweet march to victory
After their debacle on Thursday night’s match against Tottenham, a lot of talk has been doing the round regarding Ludogorets’ preparations and their run up to this game. They have been badly hit by COVID-19 and were decimated to put a fitting challenge right from the word go.
On the other hand Spurs proved too strong a side for them and there could have been a goal in the very first minute had Moura timed his run to the far post better from Matt Doherty’s right-wing delivery. Nevertheless, it set the tone for a first period which barely saw the ball leave Ludogorets’ half.
After just 15 minutes, a breakthrough came to Tottenham albeit in a ridiculous manner. Deli Alli’s through-ball meant for Moura, took a massive deflection and went into the path of the unmarked Vinicius, who found it cakewalk and slotted the ball under Iliev.
Gareth Bale then netted just over the bar from Vinicius’ lay-off his second of the night thanks to some selfless work from Alli.
Moura then went for another effort within a minute of the Ludogorets kick-off, and created another chance when the visitors came into the game for the second half, too, with Vinicius just unable to get a toe onto his flick-on less than a minute after the break.
Winks then arranged for a wonderful pass setting away Doherty to send a header towards Bale, who forced a smart save from Iliev, before the midfielder entered an early effort into next season’s Puskas goal of the season award executing a 55-yard gem from on the left touchline that deceived Iliev before bouncing in off the crossbar.
The three goals became four for Tottenham as Ludogorets continued grappling with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg robbing the ball back to feed Alli whose low cross was touched onto Moura by Vinicius, and the winger beat a stranded Iliev with a rising effort.
Jose Mourinho was an elated man after this scintillating triumph. He gave pep talk to some of his younger players.
“Every game is important, we don’t look to a certain competition, we look to game after game. To play the same players is not good for their condition, or the mentality of the ones who are not playing. If you work hard, you deserve to play, I can only start 11 but I want to give chances to everybody,” Jose said.
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