Chhetri: Ahead of Messi
Not from Brazil, not from Germany, but an Indian football star has recently surpassed the great Lionel Messi!
Countries such as Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Germany are known for creating legendary footballers and winning the FIFA World Cups. Therefore, most of the records in football are either held by these countries or by the players from these countries. However, a special player from a country whose present FIFA ranking is 105, has recently surpassed the greatest of all time Lionel Messi’s active record. Hailing from the country of India, striker Sunil Chhetri is now the second active highest international goal scorer ahead of Lionel Messi. The only player ahead of India’s Sunil Chhetri is Portugal’sCristiano Ronaldo.
In a recently played match between Asian neighbours India and Bangladesh, team captain Sunil Chhetri scored two goals against the team in green. Playing the World Cup qualifier match against Bangladesh in the city of Doha (Qatar’s capital), Chhetri fired his first goal in the 72nd minute of the game. In the injury time, he scored his second goal and therefore, his international goal tally reached 74; two more goals than the great Lionel Messi. Unfortunately, the two goals from the captain could not save the team as India is already out of the World Cup qualifier race. However, hopes are alive as the Asian country can still secure a place in the Asian Cup.
After creating the record, the official tweeter account of FIFA World Cup tweeted: He’s now got more than Messi! Sunil Chhetri’s double earns the Blue Tigers a 2-0 win in #WCQ and moves him on to 74 international goals – above Lionel Messi and one-off entering world football’s all-time top 10. All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel also congratulated the player by tweeting: Our @IndianFootball skipper Sunil Chhetri adds another feather to his illustrious cap as he overtook Lionel Messi to become the second-highest active international goalscorer with 74 goals. A big congratulation to Captain Fantastic & wishing him many more accolades in the future.
Talking about Sunil Chhetri, the 36-year-old is a legend in the Indian football community as the player has won numerous accolades such as the AIFF Player of the Year award, Hero of the Indian Super League award, AFC Asian Icon, SAFF Champion Player of the Tournament and the AFC Challenge Cup Most Valuable Player to cite a few.