India’s talisman Sunil Chhetri only 1 goal away from matching Argentina legend Leo Messi in international goal tally- Sunil Chhetri scored his 1st goal for India in the National Rank Football Cup against fiercest rivals Pakistan on the 12th of June, 2005 16 years after he has become India’s all-time record goalscorer Sunil Chhetri has been one of the very few bright spots for the Blue Tigers in the ongoing SAFF Championships. His four goals in the tournament so far have helped India overcome their sluggish start to the competition and qualify for the final against Nepal on October 16.
1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ Internationals 😯
7️⃣9️⃣ Goals 😱@chetrisunil11 becomes the joint 6th highest goalscorer in the world! 🤩#INDMDV ⚔️ #SAFFChampionship2021 🏆 #BackTheBlue 💙 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/Tg4UCTPAAE— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) October 13, 2021
SAFF Championships: Sunil Chhetri scored a brace in the last game against the Maldives
With his brace the Indian talisman moved to 79 international goals overtaking arguably the greatest player in the history of the game- Brazilian icon Pele, Chhetri is now 6th on the overall list only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 115 goals, Ali Daei (Iran) 109 goals, Mokhtar Dahari (Malaysia) 89 goals, Ferenc Puskas (Hungary) 84 goals, Lionel Messi (Argentina) 80 goals and alongside Zambia’s Godfrey Chintalu.
India’s captain is only 1 behind another all-time great Lionel Messi, however Messi will have another opportunity to further extend his lead over Chhetri after Argentina plays Peru in South America’s world cup qualifying campaign.
Chhetri 37, who has already overtaken La Pulga once (June 2021), after scoring a brace when India played Bangladesh in a world cup qualifying match being played in Qatar, but Messi quickly regained his spot after scoring a brace against Bolivia at the Copa America held in Brazil. Sunil Chhetri now has another chance to overtake the player who he says is the best he has ever seen.
SAFF Championship: Sunil Chhetri could match Lionel Messi’s record
India take on Nepal in the finals of the SAFF championships on the 16th of October at the Maldives National Football stadium in the Maldives, a match that India is expected to win. when India take-on Nepal in the finals of SAFF championships the whole nation and the veteran Chhetri himself would be expected to continue his brilliant form and score versus Nepal in the finals
Previously India had defeated Nepal 1-0, in the group stages of the SAFF championships on Matchday 4. Sunil Chhetri scored the only goal of the match in the 82nd minute after India was completely dominant in the game but failed to find the back of the net until then.
India’s talisman Sunil Chhetri only 1 goal away from matching Argentina legend Leo Messi in international goal tally
