Mourinho, Lucas Moura praise Spurs debutant Carlos Vinicius

There’s a lot of praise for Carlos Vinicius in Tottenham camp after the big Brazilian forward picked up two assists in his Spurs debut.

Tottenham beat LASK Linz 3-0 in Europa League play on Thursday, Vinicius setting up goals by Lucas Moura and Heung-min Son.

[ MORE: Europa League roundup ]

Lauded as Jose Mourinho’s “No. 1 target” when he arrived from Benfica, Vinicius led the Portuguese top flight in scoring with 23 goals and 13 assists in a breakout 2019-20 season.

He made 11 passes and five were considered “key passes” by SofaScore. Economical.

Here’s Lucas Moura, who said he’s happy to have another Brazilian at Spurs.

“Carlos did very well today,” he said. “He did two assists and made a good game. He’s the kind of player we missed in this squad, another number nine. Another Brazilian as well is good for me.”

Is it a @SpursOfficial match without a Heung- Min Son goal? What form that man is in, lovely team goal. pic.twitter.com/uk25T7r0Oy

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 22, 2020

Mourinho was pretty pleased with the 25-year-old center forward, via Football.London:

“He played well but he can do better. Not easy to not speak English so the adaptation to the group isn’t an easy situation. Different football, different way to play, how we want to press. It’s about learning. But with these circumstances, first match he did well. Only thing that was missing was one goal. Showed he’s more than that and that he can play with Harry Kane as well.”

The Portuguese manager also had high praise for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who looks set for some beautiful and brutal midfield battles with Thomas Partey once the North London Derby hits the Premier League season.

Mourinho called Hojbjerg, who was bandaged after suffering a headwound, “a captain without the armband.”