Mourinho praises Gordon but calls SJP 'quiet'

Anthony Gordon received a ringing endorsement of his Champions League quality from Jose Mourinho after helping to condemn his Benfica side to a resounding defeat at Newcastle.

The 24-year-old England international scored the first goal -- his fourth in the competition in three games this season -- and made the last in a 3-0 victory at St James' Park on Tuesday evening as he played a starring role for Newcastle.

While his efforts won him the acclaim of his own head coach Eddie Howe and the locals among a crowd of 52,073, there was also praise from Mourinho, who made a beeline for the former Everton frontman on the final whistle.

Asked what the Portuguese had said to him, Gordon replied: "He said 'You're too much', which is a big compliment for me because as a kid, he was my favourite manager in the world growing up.

"It's quite weird because he was quite a defensive manager, but I just love the way ... even then, the bench was getting up. He really creates a team environment, it's like us against the world. I recognise that from my own game, so it was a big compliment.

"It means an awful lot. Even if I didn't idolise him, a compliment from any coach at this level means a lot."

Gordon's performance was one of the highlights of an encouraging evening for Newcastle, who climbed to seventh place in the table as a result with six points from their first three games.

He opened the scoring, arriving with perfect timing to dispatch Jacob Murphy's inviting cross with 32 minutes gone and, after substitute Harvey Barnes had made the most of keeper Nick Pope's prodigious throw to double his side's advantage 19 minutes from time, Gordon slid the former Leicester man in to double his tally.

Howe said: "I thought both our wingers that started the game did really well. It was great to see them combine for the first goal, that's a really pleasing sight.

"Anthony played very direct and I thought athletically, he was excellent. He put a really big effort in both on and off the ball."

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If the second goal was impressive for Pope's vision and execution, the third, which saw Nick Woltemade provide Gordon with a flicked return pass before he picked out Barnes' run, was of picture-book quality.

The £69 million ($91.8m) Germany international is in many respects still finding his feet on Tyneside, but Gordon has been hugely impressed by what he has seen so far.

He said: "I was unsure of his game style when he first came in, how it would translate for me. It's been unbelievable, to be honest. I didn't think it'd turn out as well as it has.

"He suits my game so well. He sees the little passes I do round the corner -- that's my style of play as a winger. Not a lot of attackers can really play off that style, but some of his first touches, some of his little flicks -- especially for third goal -- that's top, top level."

Benfica have struggled throughout the Champions League campaign thus far and have just a solitary point, from a draw against Pafos, to show for their efforts, after falling to consecutive defeats without scoring against Chelsea and Newcastle.

Mourinho though was still confident he would lead his side through to the knockout stages with five games to play, despite those matches being against Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli, Juventus and Real Madrid.

"I told my players after the game that we have 15 points to fight for in the Champions League," said Mourinho.

"We don't need 15 to qualify, I think between nine and 11 will be enough.

"It's not cheap demagoguery to say we can qualify despite having difficult games, for me, this was the most difficult.

"We have two games to play at home, and we have to clean up our act, it doesn't matter that we played a good first half; none of that matters -- what matters is that we lost 3-0, we have to clean up our act."

Mourinho's opinion on Gordon may have been positive but he was not so complimentary on the St James' Park atmosphere. He pointedly described it as "just nice" and accused Newcastle fans of only bringing their support when they had set pieces.

"To be honest, I think in the first half, it was a quiet St James'," the Portuguese said

"It was quiet, they felt that the game was not easy, they felt that Benfica was much closer to Newcastle to score.

"They brought their enthusiasm in set pieces, which is normal when you have a team of giants, you know that every set piece, throw in, free-kick, corner, you know that is a dramatic moment for the opponent and was the only moment when they brought that enthusiasm and that pressure to the opponent.

"We felt very comfortable in the first half, in the second half, the second goal kills the game and then after that, easy for Newcastle to play, easy for the fans to enjoy, but to be honest the atmosphere was just nice, not difficult and beautiful in the sense of fairplay, no problems, good referee, not disciplinary problems, in that sense, I think it was a quiet St James'."

Information from ESPN's Adriana Garcia contributed to this report