Indian national football team captain Sunil Chhetri has been a prolific scorer for both club and country, and he once again showed this week how special he is when he started and finished a move that ended in India's winning goal in their 1-0 win over the Kyrgyz Republic in an AFC Asian Cup 2019 Qualifier.
With 54 goals for India, Chhetri is the all-time record goalscorer in the Blue Tigers' history, making him enjoy good company alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney and Neymar Jr. That being said, Chhetri's goalscoring record for India has always divided opinions among football fans who suggest that the level of competition India face in international matches is far inferior to what Rooney's England and Neymar's Brazil face.
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While that makes for a valid point, but international matches are always a difficult setting, whether they are staged in Germany or Jamaica. Chhetri's counterparts from top international teams will attest to that, therefore, undermining the 32-year-old's achievements is futile practice.
Chhetri's international goalscoring record speaks for itself, and it is no surprise that his productivity in front of goal in international football is better than many modern day greats in world football. Here are the five players you won't believe have worse international goalscoring records than India's Captain Fantastic.
#1 Lionel Messi – Argentina
Although Messi has more international goals for Argentina than Chhetri has for India, La Pulga's 58 goals for his country have come at a worse rate than Chhetri. The Indian captain has scored his international goals at a rate of 0.57 goals per game, which is better than Messi's 0.50 per game.
Messi has taken 117 matches to score his 58 goals, while Chhetri's 54 goals have been scored in only 94 games.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo
Like Messi, Ronaldo also has more international goals to his name than Chhetri, but the clincher here for the Bengaluru FC forward is the rate of scoring. While the Real Madrid star has scored his goals for Portugal at a rate of 0.51 goals per game, Chhetri has fired in his India goals at 0.57 per game.
To be fair to Ronaldo, his 73 goals in internationals is the second best record in Europe after Ferenc Puskas, but his 139 appearances for those strikes mean that Chhetri takes the cake in terms of efficiency.
#3 Thierry Henry
The Arsenal legend is France's all-time record goalscorer in international football, but his tally of 51 goals for Les Bleus pales in comparison to Chhetri's 54. While the respective international careers of Henry and Chhetri are incomparable, a stat of note is that the current Belgium assistant manager scored his international goals at a slower rate than Chhetri.
While Chhetri's 54 goals have come at a rate of 0.57 goals per game, the retired Henry scored his goals at a much slower 0.41 per game rate, having taken 123 matches to score them.
#4 Wayne Rooney
The Manchester United captain became England's all-time record goalscorer only recently and is now level on the number of goals with Chhetri. However, Chhetri's 54 goals have come at a much faster rate than Rooney's 0.44 goals per game.
Chhetri has a chance to inch further ahead of Rooney in the coming weeks when he lines up in India colours for the Blue Tigers' doubleheader against Nepal and the Kyrgyz Republic. Rooney, meanwhile, has not been selected for England's matches against Scotland and France in the upcoming international week.
#5 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The Swede recently retired from international football, but not before he etched his name in gold in Swedish football's record books. Ibrahimovic holds the record for the most number of goals for Sweden in international football with 62, but his goals-per-game ratio also pales in comparison to Chhetri's.
Ibrahimovic's 62 goals in 166 internationals came at a rate of 0.53 per game, which is slightly worse than Chhetri's 0.57. If Chhetri goes to play as much as Egypt's Hossam Hassan – who has played 178 times – the Bengaluru FC hitman will cross the 100-goal mark. However, that seems unlikely since Chhetri is already 32 and in the twilight of his career.
