Fabio Carvalho enjoyed a productive night in only his second start since leaving Liverpool for Brentford in a £27.5 million transfer, scoring an overhead kick.
Carvalho left Anfield in pursuit of regular first-team football over the summer and looks to have found that at Brentford.
However, coach Thomas Frank has taken a patient approach to easing the 22-year-old into his starting lineup – which could change now following injury to striker Yoane Wissa.
Tuesday night saw Carvalho make his second start for the Bees, both of which have come in the Carabao Cup, with his latest outing coming against League One side Leyton Orient.
It was a rough start for Brentford as their defence – including Sepp van den Berg – was caught sleeping when a deep cross found Brandon Cooper to convert for 1-0 after just 11 minutes.
But Carvalho was on hand to equalise soon after, doing so with a brilliant overhead kick after Kevin Schade’s solo run and shot was saved into danger.
Nine minutes later the Portuguese, who was deployed on the wing, drifted in an ideal cross for Mikkel Damsgaard to head in for 2-1.
Carvalho then made it two assists as he got to the ball first on the edge of the box for a touch into the path of Christian Norgaard, who blasted in to secure a 3-1 victory.
Brentford were expected to win their third-round tie, but Frank was delighted nonetheless with Carvalho’s contribution.
“He’s taking steps in the right direction in the past five or six weeks,” he told BBC Sport after the game.
“I was very pleased with what I saw from him; a great goal, a great assist. He’s growing into what I thought he would bring to us.”
The former Liverpool forward could now come into contention to start against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday, with Van den Berg already part of Frank’s first-choice XI.
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