His goal, of course, is what will dominate the memory of Lucas Moura’s first start for Tottenham but the moment that perhaps summed up why this was such a promising debut had come a few minutes earlier. The ball had run away from the Brazilian as he drifted in from the left and the Rochdale midfielder Callum Camps was clearly going to get to it first. Moura could have eased off and allowed him to clear – on a chilly day any block was going to sting – but instead he kept running, stretched out a leg and made a juddering challenge. The thud reverberated around the ground but Moura, after a tentative step, jogged away.

Everybody knew he was quick, and few doubted his technical ability, but this showed a very encouraging appetite.

It would be absurd to suggest that Moura has lived some kind of gilded life and that he has never previously experienced unwelcoming conditions – he did, after all, grow up in São Paulo – but equally it’s probably fair to say that this was not exactly what Moura dreamed of when he left Paris Saint-Germain for Tottenham.

Rochdale is where Harry Kane made his debut, coming as a gauche 17-year-old in the 73rd minute of Leyton Orient’s 1-1 draw there, and an early immersion in the Lancastrian traditions of English football served him well enough. Still, it is hard to imagine many players have made their first two appearances for Spurs in such contrasting surroundings, from the modern white lines of Juventus’s Allianz Stadium and its Alpine backdrop to the brick terraces, skeletal trees and lowering moors of Spotland.

There was perhaps a little rustiness but particularly after being switched to the left at half-time as part of a rejig from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, Moura seemed unfazed. He scurries menacingly and has a low centre of gravity that evokes the memory of darting wingers since time immemorial, a tight turn, sudden acceleration that in an instant can put daylight between himself and a pursuing full-back.

It is not, perhaps, entirely reasonable to expect too much too soon. Mauricio Pochettino had effectively admitted on Friday that Moura is not quite at full fitness yet. Cast into redundancy by PSG’s summer spree, he had played only 76 minutes this season before making his £25m January move to north London. A certain rustiness is only to be expected.

There was perhaps a sense that his touch was a little off, that there must be a process of recalibration. One promising early meander in off the right through a central area was let down by a heavy pass to Son Heung-Min and when, on the half-hour, he seized on a Fernando Llorente cut-back with his back to goal, he turned with impressive speed but then never quite seemed balanced as he sliced a shot over the angle. There were other promising signs: a deft first‑time lay-off to Moussa Sissoko, a burst of pace to get into a crossing position, a sharp exchange with Son Heung-Min.

And when the chance came, Moura took it superbly. Tottenham needed him to. They had been oddly diffident for most of the first half, not disengaged exactly, but lacking a certain ruthlessness – as they had at Newport in the last round. But a quick transition found a defence caught slightly off-balance and Sissoko nudged a pass into the path of Moura’s dart into the box. One touch got the ball under control, another swept it past Josh Lillis in the Rochdale goal. In an instant the home lead was gone and the pressure was off Tottenham, the risk of a first defeat to third-tier opposition in 30 years dissipated.

Twelve minutes later, Moura was withdrawn, more minutes in his legs and his job done. That Spurs could not then finish the game off will have been a frustration for Pochettino but Moura’s performance is a huge positive. Their squad now has a certain depth, and Moura offers a pace and directness that had perhaps previously been lacking.