Once thought Sunil Chhetri could not score goals, reveals Subrata Bhattacharya

It was in 2002 when he was still a teenager, that Sunil Chhetri walked through the Mohun Bagan ground for trials. Subrata Bhattacharya was on the other side of the recruiting process but was not too convinced that the ‘diminutive’ footballer would possess excellent goal-scoring prowess even though his shooting was more than decent and showed excellent game reading skills. In the end, he was offered a three-year contract at the club and the rest is history.

“He had good pace, and his shooting was more than decent. What really struck me was the desire he showed. At first sight, from the perspective of a tall defender like myself, his diminutive figure did not evoke any thoughts that he would be able to get on the goal,” said Subrata Bhattacharya, as reported by the All Indian Football Federation. 

“But he showed an excellent reading of the game. He constantly made runs off the ball, barking at his teammates to pass the ball to him. He was just five-foot-seven, but whenever there was a set-piece, he’d stick himself right into the towering defenders,” added the Indian.

Following his breakthrough stint with Mohun Bagan, Chhetri made his International debut in 2005 and since then has been an integral part of the Blue Tigers. Till now, the footballer has scored 72 International goals, the most by any an Indian by a long margin.