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Indian international goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu yesterday achieved another first for an Indian footballer as he started the game in goal for his Norwegian Tippeligaen (Norwegian Premier League) side Stabæk IF away to Welsh Premier League side Connah’s Quay Nomads FC in the qualifiers for the UEFA Europa League.
The game between the two sides ended goalless, but Gurpreet only played 30 minutes of the game as he had to be substituted due to a hand injury with Stabæk’s Ivorian goalkeeper Sayouba Mande, whom Gurpreet has replaced in recent weeks as the number one goalkeeper for Stabæk.
Gurpreet, who as a teenager had been part of the India squad at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, then went on to play for the Pailan Arrows and East Bengal Club before making a bold move to Stabæk IF in 2014 to develop himself and his game. In the first two seasons he spend most of the time on the bench or only playing with the reserve team, but this season due to a weakness of first choice keeper Mande, he recently made his Norwegian Tippeligaen (Norwegian Premier League) debut against IK Start, which his side went on to win 5-0.
By now Gurpreet is also India’s number one goalkeeper having replaced his idol Subrata Pal in goal.
A big congratulations from my side to Gurpreet!!! Keep it up…
Gurpreet wrote the following on Twitter also showing his bandaged hand!
Proud to reach another milestone by playing in @EuropaLeague but gutted to have it cut short after injuring my hand pic.twitter.com/89XV8ToLiE
— Gurpreet Singh (@GurpreetGK) July 1, 2016
