Indian footballer Sunil Chhetri scored 2 goals in the joint qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2022 and Asia Cup 2023 as India beat Bangladesh with 2-0 to grab the first win of the tournament. Sunil Chhetri scored in the 79th and 92nd minutes of the match. After this, Chhetri’s international goal count reached 74 in 117 matches. Notably, with this feat,he has also left behind Lionel Messi of Argentina.
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In terms of international goals, Chhetri has reached 10th place, while Messi is at 12th position. Messi has scored 72 goals in 143 matches. Former Iran player Ali Dei is on top with 109 goals in 149 matches. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo at second spot with 103 goals in 174 matches.
Now, India’s next match is against Afghanistan on 15 June. If Chhetri scores 3 goals, he will at par with Brazil’s all-time Great Pele’s record of 77 goals. After the match, Chhetri said, “I do not count it while scoring. After retiring, I will definitely talk about the goal.”
No comparison between Me and Messi, says Chhetri
During a virtual press conference,the star soccer player said, “ Itis people having their opinion and it is fine because people will have opinions. If you want to know my take on it, the fact is that there is no comparison whatsoever, forget between me and Messi, but between me and any player in that whole category. There are 1000 and 1000 players who are better than me and all those 1000 and 1000 are fans of Messi. That’s the reality. People who understand football know that there is no comparison.”
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“I have pretty good knowledge of football so I know there is no comparison. What I am proud of is that I have played more than 100 matches for the country,”he further added.
Performance of Indian team
India is already out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but they have very good chances of qualifying in the Asian Cup 2023. Asian Cup 2023 is to be held in China. The win against Bangladesh is the second win under coach Igor Stimac.
With the win against Bangladesh, the Indian team has seven points from 7 matches. With this, the team has reached third place in Group-E. Team India has lost 3 out of 7 matches played so far, while three matches have been drawn. Afghanistan is at the fourth position, while Bangladesh is at the bottom of the 6-team table with two points.