JakOnline – Gustavo Almeida wasted no time in his first full-season with Persija Jakarta since arriving in the middle of the previous Liga 1 campaign. The Brazilian is now the league’s top scorer with 12 goals from 18 games, competing closely with Dewa United’s Alex Martins.
Taking a look at his record with his previous club, putting the ball at the back of the net is a chore for Almedia. His presence on the top scorers chart is not supposed to be something surprising. He left his previous employer after scoring 14 goals in 16 matches, one of them was against Persija when both sides met at Kanjuruhan.
The kick-off was not ideal for Almeida as he had to leave the pitch early in his debut with Persija last season. Playing as a loanee, he appeared for only 35 minutes in the first half before being subbed off afterward to face a three-week recovery time.
In this campaign, he started the 2024/25 season with a bang, scoring his first hat-trick for Persija in the opening game against Barito Putera in a 3-0 win. He then spent the next seven games without scoring before missing the game against his former club in October.
Almedia continued his scoring spree in a game against Madura United, Persebaya, and Persik. Spending 90 minutes without scoring against Semen Padang in the next fixture, the 1996-born went on to score five in three games.
One against Borneo FC and one Bali United, and another hat-trick when facing PSS at Patriot Chandrabaga. His latest tally came in a 3-3 draw against Persis at Manahan last week.
Save the title talks for later
Along the way, Persija started to emerge to the surface as a serious contender to challenge the reigning champions Persib Bandung for the title. The capital-based side are now sitting second on the table collecting 38 points from their archrival.
Despite the goals he has scored so far, Almeida admitted it was not a personal record that he is after. For him, his priority is to take Persija as far as possible in the title contention.
“Persija took me here to work as a striker, to score goals for the team,” he said prior to the Persita game earlier in January. “Of course as a striker, it’s my job to score goals.
“But, my priority is to always help the team with goals and assists, and fight for the 90 minutes. Hopefully at the end of the season, we can win the title.”
The closest agenda for Persija is to face PSSB Biak in Jakarta. Manager Carlos Pena refuses to talk too much about the title. Instead, the Spaniard prefers to focus on the upcoming game.
“We don’t want to look (at) the other team,” said Pena in the post-match press conference at Manahan after the game against Persis. “We know how is our way, we want to go step by step. Today, with this point, we have gone to the second position and that’s very good for us, and we’re very happy for that.
“Now it’s time to think of Biak. Let’s focus on the next game at home. We want to get three points there and we’re not going to think about the other team.” (Abdi – JO)