Sunil Chhetri makes another sub appearance for Sporting B

India captain Sunil Chhetri made his second substitute appearance for Sporting Clube de Portugal’s B team in their Liga de Honra (Portuguese National Division II) match against Sporting Clube de Braga ‘B’, which Sporting B won 3-2 on Sunday afternoon.

Sunil Chhetri, under the cheers from family and friends who had flown over from India, came on in the 87th minute for Diego Rubio; but in his few minutes on the pitch Sunil had little impact on the game. At half-time, Sporting B seemed to cruising with a 3-0 lead through goals from João Mário (4′), Ricardo Esgaio (8′) and Diego Rubio (45+2′), but Braga hit back in the second session with two goals from Manoel (55′,88′). Sporting B remain top of the Portuguese Second Division with 28 points from 11 matches.

On social media, Sunil wrote about his own situation at Sporting B, “Got some playing time.. Not enough though .. But still .. Hard work has to continue.. We won the match and remain at the top of the table!”

Surely it isn’t easy for Sunil, but he will have to continue to try and adjust to the conditions in Portugal to succeed against the competition within the young and talented Sporting B squad.