India’s Sunil Chhetri scored hat-trick against Pakistan in their SAFF Championship opening on Wednesday at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. He moved further into fourth place among all male football goal scorers.
After scoring thrice, Chhetri’s goal total increased to 90 in 138 games. He put behind Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari, who moreover accomplished the feat in four more games.
It took India just over 10 minutes to open the scoring when Pakistani custodian Saqib Hanif made a critical mistake. India quickly doubled the advantage after the visitors were awarded a penalty six minutes later in the first half. In the second half Chhetri (74’) scored another on penalty.
Sunil Chhetri led his side from the front in the highly anticipated match as India opened the multi-nation tournament on a high. Chhetri scored a hat-trick against Pakistan in the SAFF Championship 2023 match to climb up in the international goal-scoring records.
Rankings
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Number of goals | Number of games |
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 123 | 200 |
| 2 | Ali Daei | Iran | 109 | 148 |
| 3 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 103 | 173 |
| 4 | Sunil Chhetri | India | 90 | 138 |
| 5 | Mokhtar Dahari | Malaysia | 89 | 142 |
As the third-highest current goal scorer in international men’s football, Chhetri is just 13 goals behind FIFA World Cup 2022 champion Lionel Messi and five-time Ballon D’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
India won the Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneswar and was however the reigning champion into the SAFF Championship. Chhetri further became the leading goal scorer for India in international football. Moreover scoring twice in that event to extend his advantage.
India wins by 4-0 in today’s match.
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