Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s ground-breaking journey reached its most important milestone as he became the first Indian footballer to play for the first team in the top-flight Europa League.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s ground-breaking journey reached its most important milestone as he became the first Indian footballer to play for the first team in the top-flight Europa League.
Standing at six feet and four inches, the India goalkeeper started for Norwegian Tippeligaen club Stabaek FC in an Europa League qualifier against Welsh side Connah’s Quay Nomads FC in an away match in Rhyl, Wales on Thursday evening.
The Europa League is a rung below the Uefa Champions League.
His night was, however, cut short by a hand injury that prompted a change after 28 minutes of play and brought into action Sayouba Mande, the team’s first choice custodian till this match.
“I am proud but also disappointed that it had to end due to an injury. But then again they are part and parcel of the game and we can’t do anything about them,” the 24-year-old said before leaving for Norway.
The Indian, who has already started his recovery session in the gymnasium, is all but ruled out of the second leg.
“I will have an X-ray taken in some time and we will see. But I am more or less ruled out of the second leg game. I am still looking forward to the future matches and there will be few play-offs,” he added.
While he has slowly worked his way into the starting XI at the expense of the more experienced custodian from Ivory Coast, Sandhu has been the number one goalkeeper in the India team since Stephen Constantine took over in 2015.
