A lot of people might have scoffed at Stephen Constantine decision to hand senior team debut to a certain 18-year old Chhangte Lallianzuala against Sri Lanka in the SAFF Cup on Friday. However those very faces were brimming with joy and admiration when the wonder kid from Mizoram scored two goals versus Nepal on Sunday with the first one being nothing short of a world class strike. Check it out below:
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Here are some interesting facts about Lallianzuala :-
1. Lallianzuala was born on August 6, 1997 in Mizoram.
2. He is a product of Liverpool's youth academy in India - DSK Shivajians Liverpool International Football Academy.
3. He was chosen by the youth coaches of the Premier League giants to play for the under-18 team of the academy in the 2014-15 U-19 I-League season, which was incidentally their debut season.
4. The talented striker finished as the top scorer of the league with 16 goals and DSK Shivajians earned their place in the final round where they finished 7th.
5. Lallianzuala represented All India Football Federation (AIFF) in the 2015 FAM-FRENZ Asia U-18 Champions Trophy. AIFF reached the semis before losing to Japan's Kashima Antlers.
6. Lallianzuala played for DSK in the 2015–16 U-18 I-League. With 9 goals he emerged as the highest goal scorer again and DSK entered the final round from the Maharashtra zone.
7. The 18-year old played for India U19s in the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship qualification.
8. On December 25, 2015, Lallianzuala became the youngest Indian to play for the senior team when he came on as a substitute for Robin Singh in the first match of SAFF Championships against Sri Lanka.
9. The greatest moment of Lallianzuala's career came on December 27, 2015 when he scored two goals for India in their 4–1 win over Nepal in the second match of SAFF Cup. In this process he became the youngest ever goalscorer for India in an international match, breaking veteran Baichung Bhutia's record, who scored against Uzbekistan in the 1995 Nehru Cup as a 19-year-old.
10. Lallianzuala will play for DSK Shivajians in the upcoming senior I-League season, starting in January.
