Harry Winks admits long-range strike was unintentional in Tottenham win over Ludogorets

The England midfielder took aim from far out by the touchline to catch out Plamen Iliev

Harry Winks reacts after scoring (POOL/AFP)

Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks has admitted he did not deliberately attempt to score against Ludogorets after his stunning strike from more than 50 yards.

Spurs cruised to a 4-0 win over the Bulgarian outfit in the Europa League, with Carlos Vinicius’ double and Lucas Moura also on the scoresheet.

And Winks’ lobbed effort from near the halfway line produced a surprise among his teammates, with the England midfielder admitting to trying to find Gareth Bale.

Winks told BT Sport: "I'd love to say that I did, but I've got to be honest. No, I didn't mean it.

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"I saw Gaz running and I just overhit it, but I'll take it. It's a goal at the end of the day and I'm really happy to get on the scoresheet."

According to Opta, only two goals have been scored from further out in the Europa League since 2009-10.

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Winks celebrates his goal (POOL/AFP)

"Winks was honest and he told in some flash interview that what he wanted to do was some diagonal pass," Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho said.

"If it was me I would say I tried to score that goal and it would be a candidate for the Puskas awards."

Mourinho also took time to praise Dele Alli for his performance, which included an unselfish assist for Vinicius.

"That's the team," Mourinho said. "Dele could try to score but for Vinicius it was an easy goal. A team player does that. No risk and 2-0. It doesn't surprise me that he did that.

"Dele was like the team. A very good first half. In the second half in the first 20 to 25 minutes they closed and tried not to concede more goals.

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"We became a little bit more passive and we never really felt the threat of a possible goal... and we let it go a little bit down."

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