India’s Jeje Lalpekhlua has become a prolific goalscorer for both club and country, and he once again showed how special he is when he scored in the absence of frontman Sunil Chhetri, as India outclassed lower-ranked Nepal 2-0 in an international football friendly on Tuesday.
Though he didn’t have a stellar season at Mohun Bagan, with 18 goals in 44 games for India, Lalpekhlua is quickly becoming one of the most important players for the country.
His international goalscoring record speaks for itself, and it is no surprise that his productivity in front of goal in international football is quickly making him one of the players to watch out for.
Here are the five players you won't believe have worse goalscoring records than India's Jeje Lalpekhlua for their national teams.
Also Read: Records India broke after their 2-0 win over Nepal
#1 Emmanuel Adebayor - Togo
Adebayor is the all-time leading goal-scorer for Togo with 30 goals in 77 games. Togo National Team has a FIFA ranking of 112 and has been at a similar level to the Indian National Football team for the past few years.
Adebayor has played for top clubs like Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid and has decent goal-scoring records for all of them.
However, his 30 international goals have come at a worse rate than Lalpekhlua’s 18, with the Indian scoring his goals at a rate of 0.41 goals per game, better than Adebayor's 0.39 goals per game rate.
#2 Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Armenia
Mkhitaryan has played more games for Armenia than Lalpekhlua has for India, 63 games, and has been the driving force for a relatively inexperienced Armenian National Football team, which has a FIFA ranking of 62.
Mkhitaryan has been playing at the highest level in club football with the likes of Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund for a long time and has performed exceedingly well, winning the Europa League with United this season.
The former Shakhtar star has only scored 22 goals for his country at a rate of 0.35 goals per game, which is less than Lalpekhlua’s scoring rate.
#3 Radamel Falcao – Colombia
Similar to Mkhitaryan, Falcao has also played 63 games for his country, in which he has scored 25 goals. The former Atletico star has been one of the top strikers in European leagues and has won major domestic titles such as the Europa League and scored goals at a prolific rate.
He has been similarly dominant as a forward for Colombia with an international average of 0.40 goals per game, just a tad bit less than Lalpekhlua’s rate. Considering the Bagan forward has played fewer games for India than Falcao has for Colombia, he has a chance to overtake the latter’s tally of international goals.
#4 Alexis Sanchez – Chile
Alexis Sanchez has been in amazing form for both club and country, and has led Chile to two consecutive Copa America wins in 2015 and 2016. The Arsenal star has scored crucial goals for his country and also scored the winning penalty in 2015 Copa America final against Argentina.
The Arsenal star is tied with Marcelo Salas as Chile’s all-time record goal scorer, with a tally of 37 goals. While the respective international careers of Sanchez and Lalpekhlua are incomparable, a point of note is that Sanchez scored his international goals at a slower rate than Lalpekhlua.
Sanchez scored his goals at a much slower 0.35 per game rate, having taken 108 matches to score them.
#5 Landon Donovan – USA
Landon Donovan retired from International Football in 2014 and is widely been regarded as the USA’s greatest footballer. For the US men's national team, Donovan is the all-time leader in scoring and assisting and is also the second-most-capped player.
Donovan is also the only American player to reach the 50 goals and 50 assists mark. The former LA Galaxy captain has scored 57 goals, but his goals-per-game ratio pales in comparison to Lalpekhlua’s.
Donovan’s 57 goals in 157 internationals came at a rate of 0.36 per game. If Lalpekhlua goes on to play as many matches for India as Donovan did for the USA, he will cross his goal-scoring record easily.
