Football in India is yet to find the appreciation it deserves as a sport. While Indians are leaned towards cricket, Indian footballers have been working in silence and setting milestones for the country on the international stage. In a similar instance, Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri recently surpassed FC Barcelona and Argentina national team's prolific goal scorer Lionel Messi to register a record for himself.
At the opening match of the Intercontinental Cup 2019, while playing against Tajikistan at the TransStadia Arena in Ahmedabad, Indian captain Sunil Chhetri shot and scored to become the second-highest active international goal scorer on Sunday, July 7.
With those goals, for the second time, the veteran footballer has overtaken Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi in the international scoring scene.
Everything Sunil Chhetri touches turns to GOAL 🤩⚽#BlueTigers #BackTheBlue #HeroIC #INDTJK #IndianFootball @chetrisunil11 pic.twitter.com/CQ57HL1CRw
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) July 7, 2019
Chhetri scored two goals during the match, taking the total tally to 70 as compared to 68 goals that Messi has in his arsenal. With this, Chhetri is only second to the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 88 international goals till now.
The Indian captain scored one goal through a ‘panenka’ penalty whereas netted the other one in just before half-time. Chhetri has played 109 games representing India and now 13th on the list of all-time highest international goal scorers.
Meanwhile, India ended up losing the match against Tajikistan but Chhetri's landmark gave the Indian team and the star-footballer with a silver lining to look at.
Share
Tweet
