Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 15: Sunil Chhetri, the captain of the Indian men’s football team, became the joint fifth most goalscorer in international football history.
Chhetri scored his 84th goal in an AFC Asian Cup Qualifier match against Hong Kong on Tuesday. On the international stage, he has now matched famous Real Madrid and Hungarian player Ferenc Puskas’ goal-scoring feats.
Chhetri also beat famous footballer Pele’s 77-goal record earlier in October 2021. He is presently third on the list of active international goal scorers, trailing only Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Lionel Messi of Argentina. With 117 goals, Ronaldo is currently the leading goalscorer in international football, while Messi is in fourth place with 86 goals.
In terms of the match against Hong Kong, India finished their AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers 2023 campaign in style at the VYBK Stadium in Kolkata, defeating Hong Kong 4-0 in the final game of Group D. The Blue Tigers scored goals through Anwar Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Manvir Singh, and Ishan Pandita.
Notably, it was the third consecutive win for Team India in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. Earlier, they had defeated Cambodia and Afghanistan.
