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Tottenham 4-0 Ludogorets: Vinicius off the mark as Winks nets outrageous 54-yard lob

Two goals from Carlos Vinicius and a long-range strike from Harry Winks helped Tottenham to a 4-0 win over Ludogorets in Europa League Group J on Thursday.

By Timothy Abraham
Viniciu

London, November 27: Carlos Vinicius scored twice as Tottenham claimed a comfortable 4-0 win over Ludogorets and edged closer to a place in the Europa League knockout stage.

Brazilian striker Vinicius, on a season-long loan from Benfica, netted for Spurs for the first time with two clinical finishes in a one-sided match on Thursday.

But the pick of the goals belonged to Harry Winks, as a spectacular long-range effort drifted over Ludogorets goalkeeper Plamen Iliev from 53.7 yards, before Lucas Moura added a fourth with a crisp finish.

The win moved second-placed Spurs level with Group J leaders Royal Antwerp on nine points, although the Belgian side are ahead courtesy of their head-to-head record.

Gareth Bale, in search of his 200th career goal, tried his luck with two free-kicks and a long-range effort early after Jose Mourinho made 10 changes from the side which beat Manchester City 2-0 on Saturday.

But it was Vinicius who opened the scoring for Spurs after he got on the end of Dele Alli's deflected pass and calmly slid the ball home.

His second goal owed much to Alli's unselfish play after the midfielder cut the ball back for Vinicius to tap in from close range following Tanguy Ndombele's burst forward.

Ludogorets struggled to get out of their own half and were unable to register a single shot in the first half, with goalkeeper Joe Hart touching the ball just seven times before the break.

Bale got himself into a good position after the interval only to be denied by Iliev at the far post following Matt Doherty's knockdown.

Iliev was embarrassed after 63 minutes, though, when Winks collected the ball from a throw-in on the left flank and remarkably picked out the top-right corner, via the crossbar, with the Ludogorets keeper off his line.

Alli and Vinicius were both involved again when Spurs notched a fourth, Moura the beneficiary as some clever link-up play allowed him to fire home.

Iliev at least partially redeemed himself late on when he saved from substitute Harvey White from close range, but Tottenham eased to another three points.

Story first published: Friday, November 27, 2020, 8:02 [IST]
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