Sunil Chhetri broke Liones Messi’s record, now behind only Ronaldo in terms of most goals- Indian football team scored two goals from captain Sunil Chhetri to beat Bangladesh 2-0 in the second round of Group E of 2022 Football World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers here. With this victory, Chhetri also overtook Argentine football legend Messi.
Messi’s record broken
After opening the team’s account in the 79th minute, Sunil Chhetri ensured the team’s victory in this Group E match by scoring another goal in the last moments (90+2 minutes). With this the 36-year-old striker has taken his international goal count to 74. Among the active players in international football, Chhetri now has the most goals after Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (103).
One goal away from being in the top-10
With this, Chhetri reached the 11th position in the all-time list in the list of most goalscorers. There are three players ahead of him at number 10. Sender Koksis of Hungary, Kunishige Kamato of Japan and Bashar Abdullah of Kuwait have 75 goals each. UAE’s Ali, trailing just behind Sunil, scored his 73rd goal against Malaysia last week while Messi scored his 72nd goal against Chile.
India’s first win in the tournament
India had earlier suffered a 0-1 loss against Asia champions Qatar on June 3, but they came back strongly after defeating Bangladesh in the match. India now has to play the match against Afghanistan on June 15. Bangladesh tried to equalize till the last minute but could not succeed. It is noteworthy that India has already been out of the race for the 2022 World Cup.
Expressing happiness over the team’s victory and Chhetri’s record, All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel praised the captain for leading from the front. Patel tweeted, “Our captain Sunil Chhetri achieves another milestone by surpassing Lionel Messi to reach the second-highest goal scorer list among active players with 74 goals. Many congratulations to the captain and best wishes for more such achievements in the future. With this win, India have moved up to third place in Group E with six points from seven matches. India’s next match will be against Afghanistan on June 15.
