Sunil Chhetri to Indian football fans: Criticise us, but do watch us play

India skipper Sunil Chhetri

Sunil Chhetri, one of the greatest footballers that India has produced, on Saturday made an impassioned plea to all the fans of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo - "abuse us, criticise us, but please come to watch the Indian national team play."

With less than two weeks left for World Cup football to begin and broadcasters urging fans of the 'beautiful game' to profess their love for their doosri country, country's all-time highest goal-getter demanded some love for their 'first country'.

India, who have improved their ranking to 97 in the current FIFA chart, routed Chinese Taipei 5-0 on Friday in the opening game of the four-nation tournament with less than 2000 fans watching from the stands. The skipper, who scored his third international hat-trick in-front a near empty Mumbai Football Arena stands, had a message for all the resident Gooners, Red Devils and Catalans, for whom Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona means "we".

"To all of you who are fans of big European clubs and support European clubs with so much passion and sometimes you guys think that the level is not the same, so why do you waste your time? Agreed, the level is not the same, not even close but with our desire and determination, we will try our best to make your time worth," Chhetri's plea was not only about accepting where they stand but also what little they want from the fans. "To all of you, who have lost hope or don't have any hope in Indian football, we request you to come and watch us in the stadium," he said.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever