Indian men’s football team captain Sunil Chhetri became the joint fifth highest goalscorer in international football history.
Chhetri achieved this feat during their AFC Asian Cup Qualifier clash against Hong Kong on Tuesday, where he scored his 84th goal. He has now equalled legendary Real Madrid and Hungarian player Ferenc Puskas goals scoring exploits on the international level. Earlier in October 2021, Chhetri also surpassed legendary football player Pele’s record of 77 goals. He is now third on the list of active international goalscorers, just behind Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
Currently, Ronaldo is the highest goalscorer in international football with 117 goals, while Messi is in the fourth spot with a total of 86 goals.
Coming to the clash against Hong Kong, India completed their AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers 2023 campaign in style at the VYBK Stadium in Kolkata as they bagged a massive 4-0 win over Hong Kong in the final game of Group D. Anwar Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Manvir Singh and Ishan Pandita were the goalscorers for the Blue Tigers.
It was the third consecutive win for Team India in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. Earlier, they had defeated Cambodia and Afghanistan.