Intercontinental Cup: Sunil Chhetri equals Lionel Messi's international goals record

Mumbai: Talismanic Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri on Sunday became the joint second highest international goal scorer among active players along with Argentine superstar Lionel Messi with his 64th strike for the country against Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup summit clash in Mumbai.

Chhetri, who had come into the match with 62 goals, gave India the lead in the eighth minute before scoring the second goal in the 29th minute to put him on par with Messi.

He chested down a long pass from Anas Edathodika between two Kenyan defenders before firing in a low left-footer just inside the box that beat goalkeeper Patrick Matasi all ends up.

33-year-old Chhetri, who was playing in his 102nd international match, and Messi are behind Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who has 81 goals from 150 matches.

Chhetri, who became only the second Indian to feature in 100 international matches after former skipper Bhaichung Bhutia, had earlier equalled Zlatan Ibrahamovic of Sweden and World Cup winner Brazilian Ronaldo in the match against New Zealand which India lost 1-2.

Chhetri and Messi are currently in joint 21st in the all-time list of goal scorers. The Indian is just one goal below former Chelsea and Ivory Coast stalwart Didier Drogba (65 from 104 matches).

In terms of number of goals per match, Chhetri is better than Meesi, arguably the best player in the world currently. Chhetri has scored 0.62 goals per match as against 0.52 of Messi (64 goals from 124 matches). The Indian has also a better goal average than Cristiano (0.54 per match).