India captain Sunil Chhetri scored the second goal in their final AFC Asian Cup 2023, qualifying third-round game against Hong Kong at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Tuesday. With that, the skipper equalled Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas' tally of 84 international goals. (More Football News)
English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur's dedicated India Twitter handle, @Spurs_India wrote a congratulatory message to the Indian legend.
"Congratulations to India's @chetrisunil11 for equalling the great Ferenc Puskas with his tally of 84 international goals! #IndianFootball," it read.
India have qualified for back-to-back editions of the AFC Asia Cup. Overall, it will be India's fifth appearance in the continental tournament.
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Chhetri's 84 goals have come in 129 appearances, while Ferenc Puskas' tally was achieved in just 85 outings.
Puskas, who died in 2006 aged 79, remains of the most enduring figures in world football. Besides being one of the greatest to have played the beautiful game, often leading the "Mighty Magyars", the midfielder also turned up for Spain.
Sunil Chhetri, 37, now stands just two goals behind Argentina's Lionel Messi (86 goals in 162 games) in the list of active footballers with the most international goals. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo is the run-away leader with 117 goals in 189.
Ali Mabkhout of the UAE, with 80 goals in 107 is fourth, while Poland's Robert Lewandowski (76 in 132) is fifth.
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India beat Hong Kong 4-0, thanks to goals from Anwar Ali, Chhetri, Manvir Singh and Ishan Pandita. Hours before the kick-off in Kolkata, both the teams already knew about their qualification for the continental tournament. And they fought for the Group D top spot.
India won all three matches with Chhetri scoring in each outing.
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur will start their 2022-23 English Premier League season with a home game against Southampton on August 6.
Antonio Conte's men finished fourth last term to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Spurs will compete in FA Cup and League Cup too.
