Another four-midable display against Wolfsberger AC - report and debrief

A spectacular overhead kick from Dele Alli was the highlight of a resounding victory over Wolfsberger AC as we eased into the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League with a 4-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The attacking midfielder was in fine form as he also set up goals for Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale, with Vinicius adding his second late on to complete an 8-1 aggregate victory over the Austrian outfit, following last week’s 4-1 first-leg triumph.

With such a commanding lead from the first game in Budapest, it would have been easy for there to be less intensity to our game but we were on the front foot right from the start and took the lead after just 10 minutes with Dele’s wonderful goal. He was involved twice in the build-up as we launched an attack, eventually pushing the ball wide to Matt Doherty whose cross into the area was controlled by Dele and, with his back to goal, he produced the perfect scissor-kick to send the ball into the top corner of Manuel Kuttin’s goal.

Vinicius thought he’d scored just a minute before half-time when he rounded the goalkeeper with a lovely piece of skill, only to see his side-foot effort stopped on the goal-line by Gustav Henriksson, but the Brazilian did find the target in the 50th minute. Dele was the architect, clipping over a deep cross and Vinicius peeled away from the last defender to send a downward header past Kuttin at the back post.

Bale had only been on the pitch for four minutes when he comprehensively added our third of the evening in the 73rd minute. We won the ball high up the pitch and Dele slid the perfect pass in for the Welsh international who didn’t need to break stride as he curled home left-footed. And we matched our first-leg goals tally seven minutes from time when 16-year-old substitute Dane Scarlett did really well to nick possession off Henriksson on the edge of his own area and the ball ran for Vinicius, who swept home first-time for his second of the night.

As well as the goals, there were first team debuts off the bench for youngsters Marcel Lavinier and Nile John to cap a great night all round and we now wait for Friday’s draw to find out who we will play in the round of 16.

Job done in professional style

The hard work was done in last week’s 4-1 first leg win, but we certainly completed the job in style with a professional attitude from the players, not to mention a bit of swagger at times as well. Having scored such a sumptuous opening goal, Dele’s confidence was sky high and he took control of the game to ensure we were always in a commanding position.

To their credit, Wolfsberger AC stuck to their task and kept playing their game, with Joe Hart making a stop to deny Michael Liendl in the 34th minute as he connected with Michael Novak’s cross. But the best chances were at the other end of the pitch, Vinicius denied by Henriksson’s fantastic block before Steven Bergwijn tested Kuttin with a powerful drive that the goalkeeper pushed away on the stroke of half-time.

The visitors were appealing for a foul five minutes into the second half when Chiekhou Dieng broke clear and was shouldered off the ball by Eric Dier but there was no decision forthcoming and 43 seconds later we went up the other end and doubled our lead through Vinicius’ header. Lamela went close twice as we continued to dominate, driving a shot into the body of Kuttin from close range before tricking his way past two defenders near the goal-line and hitting a curling effort which was headed away for a corner.

Dejan Joveljic had the visitors’ best chance in the 62nd minute after Liendl’s dummy saw it open up for him just inside the area but he didn’t quite connect with his shot and Hart saved easily, while we went further ahead as Bale made the most of his 20 minutes or so on the pitch with a fine goal.

Youngster Scarlett was lively following his introduction, almost finding the target from Bale’s pass only for Kuttin’s diving save to deny him, but he did make his mark on the game with the assist for Vinicius’ second and our fourth. Interestingly, Scarlett became the first 16-year-old to assist a Europa League goal since Kylian Mbappé in December, 2015, for Monaco against us!

More debuts for Academy graduates

There have been a whole host of young players given their senior debuts this season and two more were added to the list when Lavinier and John stepped off the bench in the closing stages. Both were making their first-ever appearance in a senior matchday squad, while midfielder Dilan Markanday was also on the bench for the first time.

This was a milestone match for Ben Davies, who was captain on the night of his 50th European appearance for Spurs. The Welsh international has also played seven times in Europe for previous club Swansea City.

Team news saw Jose Mourinho make four changes from the first leg with Hart, Lamela, Bergwijn and Vinicius coming in for Hugo Lloris, Bale, Lucas Moura and Heung-Min Son. It was nine changes from the Premier League defeat at West Ham, with only Dier and Lamela retaining their places in the starting XI.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'We qualified playing well, playing seriously'

Jose said afterwards: "Let’s start from the end – (Dane) Scarlett again! He’s a fantastic player, a kid with an incredible talent. (Marcel) Lavinier for the first time, (Nile) John for the first time, and if the story I was told is true, it’s an amazing story, he arrived at the Club at seven years old and 10 years later, he plays in this stadium, Europa League.

"So, congratulations to the Academy and to all the other kids, because in the end, they are all friends, they all have the same dream and when some reach the dream, I believe all the others, they also feel happy.

"After that, of course, we qualified, but we qualified playing well, playing seriously, scoring beautiful goals, all four goals are beautiful goals and more important than that, the attitude. People went serious to the game, so, a good night for us.”

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Dele 10, Vinicius 50, 83, Bale 73.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Doherty, Davies, Alderweireld; Wolfsberger – Baumgartner, Wernitznig.

Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia).

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Light rain, moderate breeze, 10 degrees.