Tottenham head coach Jose Mourinho began protesting Harry Kane after advising the striker to be “smart” in the final penalty win against Brighton.

Kane was awarded a penalty in the first half of Tottenham’s 2-0 win on Sunday after clashing with Brighton midfielder Adam Lalana.

Referee Graham Scott initially gave Tottenham a free-kick but VAR Jonathan Moss reviewed the incident and converted the decision into a penalty, after the rebuild it was found that there was a clash inside the Brighton area.

Can scored the penalty and defended the penalty after the match, describing it as a “50-50 decision” and Mourinho returned saying he had called the striker “smart” and “streetwise” if he had won the penalty.

“You’re confused because you can talk about some Manchester United players, you can talk about some Manchester City players, you can talk about some Liverpool players, you can talk about some Chelsea players,” Mourinho said.

“And why are you talking about Harry? Who can control the ball in a dangerous position and Lalna took a very reckless step and fouled?”

“Why are you talking about being clever or not being clever? Holding the ball cleverly and shooting and scoring it was a foul.”

Mourinho added: “Why are you talking to us? Talk about Liverpool, talk about Manchester City, talk about Manchester United.

“Speak of this fine where you see the clever man … when someone comes and pushes them they fall to the floor.

“Don’t talk about why Harry.”

Tottenham have already lost to another Bulgarian team, Lokomotiv Plavdiv, in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, facing Ludogorets in the Europa League on Thursday.

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The sports group is in second place with a win, three points behind Antwerp in a 1-0 defeat to Belgium last Thursday, and Mourinho has warned his players that they will face another tough test in Rajgrad.

“I expect a tough match. We’ve already played against Bulgaria’s probably second best team … Looking at the table I think Lokomotiv should be the second best team, and it was very difficult for us.”

“So we can illustrate that the Ludogorets have bigger potential, the nine league titles in a row are not for everyone. It’s for them, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, so we respect them.

“We only have three points. This double reality against Ludogorets is very important for us to have four or six points. We need points and with that in mind we go to Bulgaria.”