Captain Sunil Chhetri, the Indian Football’s goal machine drafted a stunning victory for to help the country outplay Thailand 4-1 and recorded his first victory in Asian Cup since 1964 on a historic night at Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Chhetri scored a goal in each half of the game and with it, he went past Argentine superstar Lionel Messi in the list of goals scored by an active footballer on the international arena.
Playing in his second Asian Cup and 105th match, Chhetri scored in the 27th and 46th minutes to record 67 goals to his account going past Messi’s 65 goals from 128 matches. Portuguese football star, Cristiano Ronaldo reigns the highest scorer with 85 from 154 matches.
Midfielder Anirudha Thapa and second-half substitute Jeje Lalpekhlua also got on the scoresheet for the Blue Tigers in this memorable victory. This also resulted in India’s biggest victory in the Asian Cup history in which previously India defeated Hong Kong 3-1 in the 1964 edition of the tournament.
Sunil Chhetri was quite modest with his achievement when asked,” Records don’t matter, it doesn’t matter who scores the goal. Whoever scores the jubilation is the same; I am glad we got all three points”.
