ISL 2018-19: FC Pune City 0-3 Bengaluru FC, 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis

#2 Sunil Chhetri shuts the naysayers down

Chhetri celebrates putting Bengaluru in the lead [Image: ISL]

By his own high standards, Sunil Chhetri has had a rather quiet start to the season. He was mostly anonymous in the Blues' opening game against Chennaiyin FC. Then, despite getting a goal, he took the blame on himself for the draw against Jamshedpur, after missing a sitter moments before the equaliser.

This game too started on a similar note for the talismanic Bengaluru captain. He had two glorious opportunities to put Bengaluru in the lead, that he squandered. The knives were being sharpened, the snipers were being loaded to target the skipper for another off day.

But just a couple of minutes after his second miss, Chhetri decided that all the knives and snipers can have an off-day, at least for now. He scored twice in the space of three minutes to knock the stuffing out of Pune, and in the process, became the highest Indian goalscorer in ISL history, going past Jeje Lalpekhlua.

It could've easily been a second consecutive hat-trick against the Stallions for Chhetri, but he was brilliantly denied by Kaith, who palmed his free-kick on to the bar.