- Mar 4, 2024
- Mar 20, 2023
Sunil Chhetri scored a hat-trick against Pakistan during the SAFF Championship 2023 match, moving him up the list of top international goal scorers. Chhetri drove his team forward in the highly anticipated match as India made a strong start to the multi-nation competition. The Indian captain put on yet another outstanding display, scoring a brace within the first half alone to keep Pakistan behind the hosts the whole game. The third, though, was added after the second half began.
In the 10th minute, Chhetri scored the opening goal thanks to a mistake by Pakistani custodian Hasan Bashir, who lost control of the ball. After Bashir mishandled a pass, Chhetri grabbed it and then slammed the ball into the goal.
Igor Stimac, the head coach of India, did not participate in the game during the second half since he was sent out for his antics just before halftime. The Pakistani defender was prevented from receiving the throw-in by Stimac, who also smacked the ball out of his hands, sparking on-field altercations between players from both teams. The head coach of India was given a red card over his on-field behaviour.
Chhetri led his side admirably during the second half and finished up his hat-trick in the 74th minute of play with another penalty. With the goal, he overtook Lionel Messi, Ali Daei, and Cristiano Ronaldo as the fourth-highest goal scorer in international football.
The 38-year-old Chhetri has become the second-highest goal scorer from Asia in international football, after Alie Daei. Chhetri is currently third among the list of active players, only after Argentina’s Messi and Portugal’s Ronaldo. The highest amount of goals in international football history have been scored by the Indian captain against Nepal and the Maldives. After six games against the Maldives, he has eight goals. Chhetri played in 12 games and scored eight goals against Nepal. In addition, Chhetri joined Jeje Lalpekhlua, IM Vijayan, and Puran Bahadur Thapa among the fourth Indians to score three goals against Pakistan.
Fans react to India thrashing Pakistan 4-0 in 2023 SAFF Championship opener: –
Perfect start to #SAFFChampionship2023 for the #BlueTigers 🐯
An absolutely dominant performance 💙🇮🇳💪🏽 #INDPAK #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/tUEFWGUffN
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) June 21, 2023
This team 💙💙💙🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/siNULkJbh1
— Kafka Sacramento 🇮🇳 (@King_Kafka_S) June 21, 2023
To Stimac after India's recent form. pic.twitter.com/zG3OE8iqQv
— Astitva Shukla (@AsYouNotWish12) June 21, 2023
Easy peasy 👋🏼👋🏼 pic.twitter.com/R0dU83TUQW
— P (@smlvprnce) June 21, 2023
Incredible performance. Let's keep this up, #BlueTigers. 🇮🇳💙
— Humans of Indian Football (@OfficialHoIF) June 21, 2023
Great win. But we honestly shouldve scored more. We weren't even playing half as good as we did against Lebanon. Way too casual in the first half
— Joe ⭐⭐ (@joeadarsh09) June 21, 2023
Dominated Performance by Indian team defenders are playing really well especially Anwar Ali outstanding
Chetri Hatrick Udanta scored 1st goal of this match
Need to maintain a good picth in the ground by grass some grass covering is poor
Full power packed 22,860💥💥💥💥— Mahesh Krishna (@m_k_c__32) June 21, 2023
Anwar Ali is the most talented and the best ball playing center back we have ever had. Protect him at all costs.
— ANIKET (@BabutaAniket) June 21, 2023
https://twitter.com/TheRGautam18/status/1671548853999521793?s=20
Sunil Chhetri became the third active male footballer to score #90goals in international football as he scored a hat-trick, including two goals from penalties, against Pakistan in their 2023 #SAFFChampionship2023, Ronaldo has 123 international goals, while Messi has 103 goals. pic.twitter.com/vCYzKl4RNi
— Naizil Rodrigues (@Naizilrodrigues) June 21, 2023
https://twitter.com/TheRGautam18/status/1671549727257800704?s=20
Congratulations Blue Tigers well played , Sunil Chhetri Sir It's always a treat to watch u play , You are a legend of our Indian Football team 🇮🇳 .. pic.twitter.com/GoqsZRsHQB
— Raju 🇮🇳 (@rahulkumar92k) June 21, 2023
2 pens, 1 lucky goal against a random country but gg Puskàs remains better than Phetrri
— Dom (@dom_snipe) June 21, 2023