Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports on Tuesday said that he enjoyed watching striker Sunil Chhetri score two amazing goals against Bangladesh in the ongoing FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and AFC Asian Cup China Qualifiers.
"Congratulations to @chetrisunil11 for overtaking Messi to become 2nd highest active international Goal-scorer! I enjoyed his brilliant 2 goals against Bangladesh which secured a win for India and put him on to 74 international goals," tweeted Rijiju.
Chhetri had added another feather to his illustrious cap as he overtook Argentina star Lionel Messi to become the second-highest active international goalscorer on Monday.
He achieved the feat when he struck a brace to help India defeat Bangladesh 2-0 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium at Al Sadd Club in Doha.
Talking about his own performance, Chhetri in an AIFF release said: "The match against Bangladesh was a tough match, frustrating at times," he referred. "We were guilty of missing a lot of chances. We could have done better. It has been a topsy-turvy qualifying campaign. Looking back, we understand that we could have done a lot better. We will talk about it but I am happy that we got three points."
Blue Tigers head coach Igor Stimac has said that striker Sunil Chhetri is still working on his game as if he is 25 and that shows the passion he still has towards the game.
"Many people keep on asking as to when Sunil is going to retire. He works so hard on the pitch, and in every training session, he is by far the best. He is in such good shape and is working with such professionalism. He is working as if he is 25, playing as if he is 25, and scoring goals like he is 25," said Stimac.
India will next lock horns against Afghanistan in the Qualifiers on June 15. The side is already out of contention to qualify for FIFA World Cup 2022, but the Blue Tigers can still qualify for AFC Asian Cup.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor