Indian football legend Sunil Chhetri scored his 85th international goal to win the Tri-Nation International Football Tournament with a 2-0 win over Kyrgyz Republic at the Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal on Tuesday.
“My hunger to score is the same as it has always been, and it will be the same against the Kyrgyz Republic. Off-sides and penalty decisions are a part of the game, and you think about them for a certain amount of time, but then you move on and look forward to the next match,” Sunil Chhetri had told AIFF ahead of the match.
With the goal, Sunil Chhetri overtook Hungary’s Ferenc Puskas as the fifth-highest goalscorer in the history of football.
Chhetri is overall third in the list of active footballers with the most goals, behind only Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
NEVER IN DOUBT 🎯The Khuman Lampak erupts for @chetrisunil11‘s 85th international goal 🙌🇰🇬 0️⃣-2️⃣ 🇮🇳
📺 @starsportsindia & @DisneyPlusHS #KGZIND ⚔️ #HeroTriNation 🏆 #BlueTigers 🐯 #BackTheBlue 💙 #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/0s0onBs5iM
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 28, 2023
Chhetri has scored the most goals in international football against Nepal and the Maldives. He has eight goals after playing six matches against the Maldives. And against Nepal, Chhetri netted eight goals after featuring in 12 matches. The Indian skipper found the back of the net six times against Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei. The 37-year-old striker scored five goals against Cambodia and Tajikistan.
Chhetri played just two matches against Kenya but managed to score four goals against the African nation. But against Afghanistan, he needed seven matches to earn four goals. His strike on Tuesday was his fourth against the Kyrgyz Republic. The Indian legend scored three goals against Myanmar, Bhutan, Vietnam and Guam. Chhetri has two goals to his name against countries like- Syria, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman and Thailand.
Chhetri bagged one goal against Sri Lanka, Bahrain, South Korea, Pakistan, Cameroon, Philippines, Palestine, Puerto Rico, Macao, New Zealand, Curacao and Hong Kong.
Recently Ronaldo scored his record-extending 120th goal for his country which made him the first man to score 100 times in competitive internationals.
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | GOALS | CAPS |
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo * | Portugal | 120 | 198 |
| 2 | Ali Daei | Iran | 109 | 148 |
| 3 | Lionel Messi * | Argentina | 99 | 173 |
| 4 | Mokhtar Dahari | Malaysia | 89 | 142 |
| 5 | Sunil Chhetri * | India | 85 | 133 |
| 6 | Franz Puzkas | Hungary | 84 | 89 |
| 7 | Ali Mabkhout * | United Arab Emirates | 80 | 109 |
| 8 | Godfrey Chitalu | Zambia | 79 | 111 |
| 9 | Hussein Saeed | Iraq | 78 | 137 |
| 9 | Robert Lewandowski * | Poland | 78 | 139 |
| 11 | Pele | Brazil | 77 | 92 |
| 11 | Neymar * | Brazil | 77 | 124 |
| 13 | Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 75 | 68 |
| 13 | Kunishige Kamamoto | Japan | 75 | 76 |
| 13 | Bashar Abdullah | Kuwait | 75 | 134 |
‘*’ denotes active footballer
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