Jose Mourinho believes that Carlos Vinicius’ third goal of his hat-trick at Marine in the FA Cup on Sunday was ‘amazing’ and joked about his grasp of the English language.
The 25-year-old striker, on loan from Benfica with an option to make his move permanent, has been gradually adjusting to the pace and power of English football.
On paper his stats read very well, with six goals and three assists from 10 appearances in a Tottenham shirt.
However, all of those contributions have come in the Europa League and now against eighth tier Marine in the FA Cup, while in the Premier League he has so far only been given 15 minutes from the bench across two appearances.
Mostly it’s been about adapting for Vinicius as he gradually learns the English language with the help of a tutor and the help of team-mate Lucas Moura.
After the game on Sunday, following his hat-trick and man of the match award, he was able to say in English to the club’s media channel: “I’m very happy. Huge hat-trick. Come on you Spurs!”
Mourinho wanted to know about the striker’s use of English when it was his turn to answer questions about the match.
“[I will answer] only with one condition. I want to watch the interview with Vinicius speaking English,” he said. “I want to understand the quality of his teacher, Lucas Moura.”
When told Vinicius had managed ten words, the Spurs added: “Okay, next time. That’s a start.”
The striker scored with two close range finishes before rounding off his quick-fire hat-trick with a perfectly executed lob from within the Marine box.
“It’s good for Carlos, and the third goal really is an amazing goal,” he told the club website. “The other two are what I call striker’s goals, easy goals but you have to be there to make it easy.”
Lucas added: “I’m very happy for him, I always say that he’s such a good guy, very humble, and he deserves this.
“He works hard every day and we spoke before the game, I said he would score a hat-trick, and that’s it! I hope he keeps scoring because we need him.”
(Football London)