Vinicius Has Breakthrough for Tottenham with Brace in Europe
By Aaron Coe
After settling for a couple assists thus far on the season, Carlos Vinicius opened his Tottenham Hotspur scoring account with a double against Ludogorets in Europa League.
Apparently for Carlos Vinicius the third time was the charm as the Brazilian on loan from Benfica was making his third start for Tottenham Hotspur in Europa League. After a couple assists in his first outing, Vinicius has been less effective in his more recent performances as he has continued to try and settle with a new club, in a new country, speaking a new language. While the language may still be unfamiliar, Vinicius looked plenty comfortable on the pitch Thursday evening scoring twice and assisting on a third goal, in the 4-0 Spurs win.
Vinicius’ Efficient Contribution
Vinicius was incredibly efficient on the evening and had managed the biggest impact on the score line while having the fewest touches of any Tottenham starter not named Joe Hart. However, in just 31 touches, Vinicius had 4 shots (2 on target) and 2 key passes (1 an assist). Vinicius got his first effort off at nearly 13 minutes when he tried to work in on the left, but his shot went wife near post.
A few minutes later Vinicius got the chance he was looking for. After a fortuitous bounce of the ball deflecting from a defender into his path Carlos did the tough part in staying calm and finishing well under the onrushing goalkeeper. After that first goal, it was clear Vinicius was trying to turn facilitator.
Dele and Vinicius combined and the Brazilian was able to then one touch a pass over the Gareth Bale for one of his two shots that landed on the top of the goal. Then Vinicius and Dele tried to connect near the edge of the box but could not quite make it work. There was some clear chemistry between Dele and Vinicius, as Alli assisted the second and had a hockey assist on the fourth connecting with Vinicius once more.
The second goal was all Tanguy Ndombele getting it set up with a wonderful run and shot at 32 minutes. Dele’s alertness and unselfishness created as easy a goal as Vinicius will ever get. Interestingly Vinicius did blast the ball from just a few feet out putting it in the upper 90 of the net for his second.
As the game wore on Vinicius maybe could have had a third or even a fourth, but it just was not meant to be. Within the first minute of the second half, a decent cross from Lucas Moura was played back across the box by Gareth Bale and Vinicius was just inches short from reaching the ball on the back post. After Winks distance goal, it was again Dele and Vinicius combining on the fourth and final goal.
Vinicius did a wonderful job settling the cross from Dele between two defenders. When many strikers would have felt panicked Carlos calmly brought the ball in and turned as if playing in a park. His layoff to Moura was perfect and his countryman did the rest giving Carlos his third assist on the season. After the game Mourinho noted how he wished Vinicius would have been a bit hungrier for his third, but that he is young and will learn.
The good news is that Carlos Vinicius has opened his Tottenham scoring account, which can take some pressure off him and hopefully allow Vinicius to simply play whenever he is on the pitch. Seeing Vinicius score and make such a big contribution is great news for Spurs as they have real cover, if something were to happen to Harry Kane, which is not something that could always be said in the past.