LONDON • Jose Mourinho saluted Dele Alli after the out-of-favour Tottenham midfielder ensured his side can still save their troubled season, with a virtuoso display in Wednesday's 4-0 rout of Austrian minnows Wolfsberg in the second leg of their Europa League last-32 tie.

Alli, who has not started a Premier League game since the opening day of the season, opened the scoring with a sensational overhead kick in the first half and laid on two assists as Spurs ran out 8-1 aggregate winners.

Carlos Vinicius (two) and Gareth Bale were the other scorers as Mourinho's side progressed to the last 16, keeping alive their best hope of qualifying for the Champions League.

Close to leaving last month, Alli played a key role in a rare start after being mostly frozen out by Mourinho and the Portuguese hinted that with the team heading into the business end of the term, he could force his way back into his first XI thoughts.

"The goal I don't need to speak, because everyone watched it and I believe that all around the world on all these sports TV, people are going to watch it, no need to talk about it," the Spurs manager said.

"But for me, the globality of the performance is what matters. He played very well in every aspect of the game. Of course he's not fresh... due to the circumstances, injured, not training for a long time.

"But in this moment when we are going to play every three days, 10 matches in March, to have Dele back at this level is amazing."

A dismal run of six defeats in their last eight games in all competitions has seen Tottenham plunge to ninth place in the Premier League and exit the FA Cup.

However, Spurs can salvage their woeful campaign by reaching the Champions League by winning the Europa League and they remain on course, even if much sterner tests lie in wait.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE