Jose Mourinho praises Kane and Aurier after Spurs beat Newcastle

London, July 16: Jose Mourinho hailed Serge Aurier's character and lavished praise on Harry Kane after Tottenham's 3-1 win at Newcastle United.

Kane scored the 200th and 201st club goals of his career in the second half to give Mourinho his first Premier League victory at St James' Park on Wednesday.

Son Heung-min put the visitors in front in the first half, but Matt Ritchie deservedly equalised with a stunning second-half strike.

Kane made wasteful Newcastle pay for a lack of ruthlessness to move his side up to seventh in the table with two games to play in the battle for European qualification.

Mourinho lauded his captain and full-back Aurier, who played the entire game just two days after the death of his brother.

"We had resilience and a great desire to win the match and to fight until the last for our objective which is the Europa League," the Spurs boss told Match of the Day.

"Since I started we are fourth in the table. If we cannot get the Champions League than the Europa League is important."

The Portuguese added: "Harry Kane knows how important he is, he is incredible.

"After such a difficult recovery [from injury] he is playing every minute of every game, this is the fourth game with two days in between, we are the only team to have this, and Harry gave everything.

"I am proud of them and happy with the points. Serge Aurier is a very strong character, every person is different and in his case he wanted to play."