Want to lead Minerva to I-League title, says ‘Bhutanese Ronaldo’ Chencho

Mohali: It is often said, dreams and aspirations go hand in hand and young Chencho Gyeltshen, famously known as the ‘Bhutanese Ronaldo’ who aspires to become like the legendary CR7 has found home in a club, that has brought many dreams to life.

Bhutan’s top goal scorer and the country’s first ever player to play for an overseas club, Chencho is Minerva Punjab’s latest youth sensation and the 21-year-old who believes, he is living his dream wants to stop at nothing short of leading the club to it’s first ever I-League title glory.

“I want to lead the team to ltitle glory by becoming the league’s top goal scorer. We want to play good football and become champions,” said the young Bhutanese, in an exclusive chat with Sportscrunch, over the phone.

Minerva, for only the second time since it’s inception in 2005 will be playing in the Hero I-League and Gyltshen who is adamant in shaking the league to his moves, has already made a great start to his time at the club, having scored a wonderful hat-trick in the 3-2 victory over Bengaluru FC, in a pre-season friendly. The two time I-League champions, who recently made a switch to the Indian Super League, has been one of the most successful Indian clubs, in recent times and Gyltshen is happy with his performance against ‘The Blues.’

“It’s a great feeling to score. Every goal brings joy and a hat-trick against one of the most successful Indian clubs of recent times brings greater joy,” he said almost adding cheekily, “I love scoring against big teams.”

Minerva’s recent rise to prominence however has been nothing short of magical. For a club that was established just 12 years ago, rising to the top most division of Indian football from the very bottom has been an unbelievable achievement and much of it’s credit goes to the club’s academy developmental programme that has already produced the likes of Jeakson Singh, India’s first ever goals scorer in the FIFA World Cup and Anwar Ali, Nongdamba Naorem and Mohammad Shahjahan – all of whom were part of the Indian U-17 team in the recently concluded U-17 World Cup.

Chencho, who has been following Indian football thoroughly ever since the U-17 World Cup considers the work in the academy as one of the most important reason for his decision to join the ‘Warriors.’

He is termed as the ‘Ronaldo of Bhutan’ for his playing style that resembles the iconic Portugese captain. The man himself however shied away when questioned about the nickname, now a famous synonym in Bhutan. Calling Cristiano as his inspiration the 28 time-capped national player said, “I am not Ronaldo. I follow him because although not god gifted, he is a very hard-working player and has achieved great success through hard-work and determination.”

Meanwhile, Minerva Punjab begin their I-League journey on the opening day of the league on November 25 and will play Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan at home. While it is expected to be a tough match for the newbies of Indian football, the stage looks all set for Chencho to show the world his potential and knack of scoring against big teams.