PETALING JAYA: Johor Darul Ta’zim’s mercurial striker Bergson Da Silva devastates defences in Malaysia with his goals, but he hit a dry spell on the Asian stage last year.
The 31-year-old played in five AFC Champions League matches last year and failed to score in any of them despite his solid form in the Super League.
But this year he finally broke the duck, and in style.
The former Fortaleza player scored a hattrick in the 10th, 27th and 52nd minute to help the Southern Tigers thrash Chinese club Guangzhou 5-0 in their Group I opener at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri on Friday. It was also JDT’s best ever start in the AFC Champions League.
The other goals were an own goal by Guangzhou goalkeeper He Lipan in the 13th minute and a cute finish by winger Ramadhan Saifullah in the 81st minute.
From start to finish, the defending Super League champions were dominant as Guangzhou struggled with their inexperienced side, having sent their reserves for the competition.
Benjamin Mora’s side dominated possession, a whopping 81% and created 24 shots, nine of them on target.
Da Silva humbly said he was just doing his job for the club and the goals came because of his teammates.
“It is good to start the competition with such a win. We know the quality of the AFC Champions League but playing at home and being together got us the result,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“This result will give us a boost when we face sides like Ulsan Hyundai and Kawasaki Frontale. We just need to think that good things will happen for us.
“As for my performance, I was just doing my job. I want to do everything for the team. It is not important how many goals I score or assists I get. For me, three points matter, that’s it. This momentum is good for the next game.”
Mora was, of course, delighted with the manner of the victory, and despite talks that they faced a weakened side, the Mexican said getting a win is the JDT way regardless of who they face.
“No matter who we face, we want to win. The commitment was to continue playing the JDT way. For 95 minutes, we were tactically disciplined and every function we did went well,” he said.
“The win was a collective effort. Every single player did their job well. It is not easy to play against a side that play a 5-4-1 formation and to score five, that is not easy too.
“For our upcoming game, we will be stronger and fight with dignity. We want to have a good outing for the people of Johor.”
JDT will next face South Korean club Ulsan Hyundai at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium tomorrow.
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