‘Good to see’: Carlos Vinicius delighted with Conte’s call on £23m Tottenham star v Sporting

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Carlos Vinicius expressed his delight on Instagram at Antonio Conte handing Lucas Moura his first start of the season during Tottenham’s drama-filled 1-1 draw against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.

The 30-year-old has had to contend with minutes from the bench this season, but he played 82 minutes on Wednesday night, as Harry Kane saw a last-gasp winner controversially ruled out for offside.

Throughout the match, Moura was a bright spark for his team, constantly getting on the ball and running at Sporting’s defence, only to be wasteful in possession, in his decision-making or with his weight of pass.

In truth, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise because, prior to yesterday, the most minutes he has been handed during one single game this season is 24 minutes.

That surely is going to come with its rust and wayward nature, so it will be interesting to see if Conte sticks with the £23 million versatile attacker (BBC Sport) for Tottenham’s visit to newly-promoted Bournemouth at the weekend.

Nonetheless, Moura stated on Instagram that it’s an ‘amazing feeling’ to be back out on the pitch again, as his former teammate and now-Fulham striker, Carlos Vinicius reacted in the comments section by saying: “Good to see you back, brother.”

MORE STARTS FOR MOURA?

It’s pretty obvious that Moura isn’t much fancied by Conte, with the 2021/22 Golden Boot winner Son Heung-min, January sensation Dejan Kulusevski and summer signing Richarlison all ahead of the player.

This start has come about on the back of a number of injuries, but will Conte keep him in the XI when the north London club travel down to the South Coast at the weekend?

Moura himself will feel, in order to get his engine really warm, then he needs those regular starts, or else he’ll continue to have this rusty nature to his performances.

But, Bryan Gil has produced a number of strong performances from the bench, including against Sporting last night, so he might just boot Moura out of the XI.