Sunil Chhetri has now scored 74 international goals for his country making him second only behind Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo in the list of active international goal-scoring players. He is also the captain of the Indian National Football Team.
On Monday evening, India won 2-0 over Bangladesh in Doha. Chhetri scored both goals. They are playing 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifiers.
The 36 years old Chhetri scored his 73rd and 74th goals in the second half. He passed UAE’s Ali Mabkhout who has 73 goals to his name. Chhetri also moved up in the men’s all-time list of international goalscorers. He is in the 11th position now and just behind Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis, Japan’s Kunishige Kamamoto, and Kuwait’s Bashar Abdullah, who all have 75 goals.
Chhetri compared to Ronaldo and Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo is only the active player to score most international goals. He had scored 103 goals in 174 appearances for Portugal. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi has 72 international goals in 143 appearances for Argentina.
India’s next opponent is Afghanistan on June 15th at the same venue. They are hoping to finish third in Group E of the ongoing World Cup qualifying table which would guarantee them a berth in the 2023 Asian Cup.
Sunil Chhetri is hoping to add to his goal tally and help his team to finish at a better position on the 2022 World Cup qualifying table.