India and Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri made headlines on Monday night after surpassing FC Barcelona and Argentina's Lionel Messi to become the world's second-highest active international goalscorer.
The 36-year-old scored both goals in a late 2-0 win over Bangladesh in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at Doha to extend his international goal tally to 74, two more than Messi's 72 for Argentina.
With the brace, India's highest-ever goalscorer now finds himself one goal shy of entering the top 10 international goalscorers. The Blue Tigers skipper had drawn level with the Argentine after scoring his 72nd goal in a 2-1 World Cup Qualifier loss to Oman in September 2019 at Guwahati.
Chhetri, as he did then, reiterated after the match that the statistic did not matter to him and that he was happy to secure three points for the team along with a clean sheet. "To win 3 points, win a full game is sweet! I'm really happy that we also kept a clean sheet," he told the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
The India skipper scored his first international goal on debut in a friendly against Pakistan in 2005 and hasn't looked back since.
While it is an impressive feat, it is also worrying that over the last five to 10 years, much of India's goals have come from Sunil Chhetri. Many have been dubbed the 'next Sunil Chhetri' but none so far — be it Jeje Lalpekhlua, Lallianzuala Chhangte, or Anirudh Thapa — have managed to step up.
India will need to up its game soon if they are to make a mark in Asia.
Published 08 June 2021, 05:08 IST