Sunil Chhetri Goals: The Indian icon has more goals per game than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

The day that Indian football fans dreaded about has come to the scene. An icon, a national hero, and the captain of the Blue Tigers, Sunil Chhetri, has announced his retirement from the international circuit. Chhetri will hang up his boots following the FIFA Qualifier match against Kuwait, slated to take place on June 6, 2024, in Kolkata. The long-standing captain of India disseminated his decision through an emotional video he posted on his different social media handles.

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Sunil Chhetri in comparison with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

In the two decades of excellence, Sunil Chhetri individually pulled the attention of a plethora of youngsters toward this team game. His impact could not be deemed any short of the influence that acclaimed GOATs Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi entrenched. As a matter of fact, being the talisman of the most popular sport in a nation filled with 1.3 billion individuals somewhat pushes Chhetri's stature even above Messi and Ronaldo. 

Since the comparison is a topic of discussion, let's figure out how many goals Sunil Chhetri has scored for India when compared with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's tally for Portugal and Argentina respectively. Sunil Chhetri represented India in 150 games and has accumulated a total of 94 goals. In terms of games, Chhetri has played 30 games fewer than Messi and will step away at a gap of 55 from Ronaldo's tally. Messi has accumulated 106 goals for his national side and as for Ronaldo, he has the most number of international goals to his name, 128. However, Chhetri has eclipsed Ronaldo and Messi on one account. The scoring rate of his is 0.63 goals per game, which is more than Messi's 0.59 and Ronaldo's 0.62.

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Sunil Chhetri will forever remain at the top for every Indian fan

Sunil Chhetri will play his swansong as the third-highest goalscorer on the international front, among active players. Following the conclusion of the India vs Kuwait FIFA World Cup qualifier match, Chhetri will be rendered with fourth position in the overall list of highest goal scorers at the international level. 

While Chhetri's name will be placed after Cristiano Ronaldo, Ali Daei (108 goals for Iran), and Lionel Messi, but for the service he has rendered to Indian football, his legacy will remain unmatched. Moreover, for every Indian football enthusiast his name will appear undisputedly at first whenever Indian football will make ripples.