Sunil Chhetri @SCP: “Do as much as I can!”

India captain Sunil Chhetri took part in an autograph session of his club Sporting Clube de Portugal at Lisbon’s coolest tube station at Baixa-Chiado on Tuesday evening. The hundreds of fans who turned out to catch a glance of the new Alvalade arrival certainly kept the Indian star busy, but Sunil Chhetri’s Kolkata experience surely helped him as he proved keen to answer a variety of questions from the local media.

Sunil Chhetri spoke to SCP media on the sidelines of the fan interaction.

Will you stay with the reserve team for now?

Yes, exactly. As I have already said, for a player like me who comes from a country like India it is very difficult and I can see that now. The training with the reserve team (Sporting ‘B’) is also very intense, so right now I am trying my best to give everything that I can.

Do you have aspirations to get into the first team?

Well, to be honest that isn’t on my mind right now. Like I just said, it is also very competitive in the reserve team and it isn’t easy for me as part of that team either. My first objective is to become something in the reserve team and to just do as much as I can. It really isn’t easy in the reserve team right now, so for me thinking about the first team is still too far away. We need to be realistic and I am more focused on becoming a good member of the reserve team first.

Has the team coach had a talk with you?

Yes he (Oceano Andrade da Cruz ) has! He was very kind and very encouraging. The first thing that he told me to do was to get comfortable over here (in Portugal), to try to be happy and to do my best in training.

What are your thoughts on your teammates from the first team?

I haven’t had much interaction with the first team. They train at different times then us. I have talked to them a couple of times and they have all been very nice, but the guys from the reserve team have also been very nice and very helpful. They are all open with me and they have all made me welcome, so I really thank them for that. They are all very young, most of them even younger than me.

You were supposed to be with the national team for a few games. What happened?

We have a very important tournament for India coming up (Nehru Cup), which starts on the 22nd of August. The Club has already been told about it, so I will act according to whatever decision Sporting makes. I am sure that everybody will go through FIFA’s rules and regulations, so when I am allowed to leave the Sporting squad I will go and join the (India) team.

For more information about Sunil Chhetri visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunil_Chhetri