Indian football team captain and talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri is now the second highest goal-scorer in Asia and fourth highest in international football after his hattrick against Pakistan in the SAFF Championship tournament opening match in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Chhetri’s three goals took his tally to 90 goals from 138 matches and only former Iran footballer Ali Daei has more goals, coming from Asian region, with 109 goals in 148 matches.

Chhetri surpassed Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia (with 89 goals) to climb to the fourth spot among the highest goal-scorers in international football. Argentina FIFA World Cup-winning legend Lionel Messi (103 goals), Iran’s retired player Ali Daei (109 goals) and legendary Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo (123) are above Chhetri in the goal-scoring list.

Here’s a list of top goal-scorers in international football…

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 123 goals in 200 matches

2. Ali Daei (Iran) – 109 goals in 148 matches

3. Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 103 goals in 175 matches

4. Sunil Chhetri (India) – 90 goals in 138 matches

5. Mokhtar Dahari (Malaysia) – 89 goals in 142 matches

6. Ferenc Puskas (Hungary) – 84 goals in 85 matches

Among the active players, Chhetri has the third-most goals by an international player, with only Messi (103 goals) and Cristiano Ronaldo (123 goals) ahead of him. The Indian men’s football team ran roughshod over arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening game of the SAFF Championship 2023, putting four goals past a hapless rival defence at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri led from the front, scoring a hat-trick (10’, 16’ and 73’) followed by Udanta Singh Kumam’s goal in the 81st minute. With this win, India has maintained the seventh straight clean sheet against their traditional rivals.

India positioned themselves at the top of the points table in Group A, having a better goal difference than Kuwait, who, earlier on Wednesday defeated Nepal 3-1 in the tournament opener. India came into this tournament on the back of its title-winning campaign at the Intercontinental Cup 2023. They are currently placed at 101 in the FIFA rankings.

India got off to a fast start and demonstrated their aggressive intent against 195th-ranked Pakistan. India scored their first goal within 10 minutes of the game after Pakistan goalkeeper Saqib Hanif blundered in front of the goal. Saqib Hanif failed to clear the ball quickly after receiving a back-pass and played it into the path of a rushing Sunil Chhetri. The Indian skipper took advantage of the mistake and scored to put India up 1-0.