Sunil Chhetri finds his name along side Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney

New Delhi: It was a big day for Indian football on Tuesday. Not only did they open their AFC Asian Cup Qualifier campaign with a narrow 1-0 victory over Myanmar, but also broke the 64-year-old jinx in the nation. But what was even more worth-a-praise, was that one solitary goal put past the Burmese goalkeeeper by the Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri, put his name alogside Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

The game was almost nearing its end when Sunil Chhetri found the ball close near half-line and passed it on to Udanta Singh. The winger ran down right-wing, going through the Burmese defence line and cut a perfect pass inside the penalty box to the skipper, who powered it to the bottom left corner to edge past Myanmar in the opener.

The goal was his 53rd international strike, putting his name along side England's Wayne Rooney as the fourth highest goal scorer for their nation, among active players.

Cristiano Ronaldo sits atop on that list with 71 goals, followed by Argentina's Lionel Messi (58). And third placed Clint Dempsey of USA, has just three more than Chhetri, scoring 56 goals for his nation.

 

.@chetrisunil11 now features alongside @Cristiano, Messi, @clint_dempsey and @WayneRooney! #HistoryMaker pic.twitter.com/hMkWD7J3dt — HISTORY TV18 (@HISTORYTV18) March 29, 2017

India will next face Kyrgyzstan on home turf on June 13 and then Macau in September 5, as per their Group A schedule. Only top two teams will qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in UAE.