AFC Asian Cup | It doesn’t matter who scores the goals, says Sunil Chhetri

01/07/2019

After India’s historic win against Thailand in the opening game of the ongoing AFC Asian Cup, Sunil Chhetri has mentioned that it doesn’t matter who is scoring the goals and the jubilation was the same for all goals. Chhetri himself scored a couple of goals in the game to give India a great start.

The Indian football team got off to a sensational start in the AFC Asian Cup as they managed to beat Thailand by a good margin of 4-1. Chhetri scored in the 27th and 46th minute of the match and with that, he overtook Lionel Messi to become the second highest goal-scorer as far as active international footballers are concerned. With 85 goals from 154 games, only Cristiano Ronaldo is ahead of the Indian striker in world football. This was India’s first win in Asian Cup since 1964 as Anirudh Thapa and Jeje Lalpekhlua also found the back of the net for the Blue Tigers.

"Records don't matter, it doesn't matter who scores the goals. Whoever scores the jubilation was the same. I'm glad we got all three points," Chhetri said after the match, reported PTI.

"I can think about my goals some ten years later. At the moment, we need to focus. The goals need to come and it just doesn't matter who scores. You can see the jubilation and happiness whenever someone scores. I am so happy for the boys. Every one of them ran and defended for their lives."

India will meet hosts United Arab Emirates in their next game on Thursday and Bahrain on January 14. They have a chance of topping the pool after an emphatic win against Thailand last evening. Chhetri has stated that the other teams have the experience with them but India will fight till the end.

"It's a tough pool when we started thinking, we felt that all the others were more experienced and better than us. But the manner the boys fought, it shows a lot of character. I have said this before, we are a very difficult team to play against," the 34-year-old stated.

"We may not be the most technical team but we will fight till the end, and that's what the boys showed.”