We knew one goal would change everything! – Zachariassen

– Are you in the best shape of your life?
– It's a difficult question, let's just say I'm close to my best – said Kristoffer Zachariassen, the 28-year-old Norwegian striker from Ferencváros who equalized in the 81^st minute of the game against Monaco. – I still have some reserves. But what is certain is that I scored the most important goal of my career on Thursday night.

– Afterwards, you did not dare to celebrate freely, you immediately looked at the assistant referee. Were you worried about the offside?
– I didn't dare to celebrate because I was afraid of the offside. I looked at the assistant referee to see if he was about to raise his flag, and when I saw that he didn't, it was a wonderful feeling. Tokmac Nguyen assisted me beautifully, he saw me moving into the empty area, and not everyone would have found me with the ball like him. I was very happy after the goal, and it was a bonus that I kicked it into the goal in front of our fans, so I could go straight to them to celebrate. I still get chills when I think about it.

– It was you once again who finished the action in front of the goal, and on other occasions, you did slide tackles inside your penalty area. Where do you get all this energy from?
– I feel good in my skin. I'm fit, I could rip my jersey off with a bit of exaggeration, I'm so full of energy. My preparation went well, I can run a lot in matches, and I'm always fresh when I wait for the starting whistle. This time I also managed my power, I had some opportunities apart from the goal, in the moments before the break I had a good header following a corner kick, which just missed the bottom left corner of the goal.

– Why was there such a contrast between the first and second half in terms of performance?
– Remember that Monaco is a very good team... We're talking about a French top club, and they started well at the beginning of the clash. We knew they would be active at the start, but we couldn't really hold them off. We were lucky with their goal post kick, but football requires luck. During the break, we discussed what we needed to change for the second half, and although time was running out, we didn't despair. We knew one goal would change everything.

– What was the biggest difference between what you saw in the first match and what you saw now regarding Monaco?

– They certainly didn't underestimate us this time. From the first moment, I could feel they were extremely sharp, focused, and aware of the difficult task ahead of them. They played well, they are a really good team. It's a big deal that we earned four points in two games against them. It proves that we are just as good as they are.

– Would you have thought the team could finish at the top of the group?
– I don't think any of us thought that... Monaco, Trabzonspor, and Crvena zvezda are all teams of outstanding ability, full of better and better footballers, with more expensive squads, and yet we finished top. We deserved a point in Thursday's game, but you can't say it fell into our lap. Stanislav Cherchesov encouraged us to go forward and try, even when we were behind in scores, and he adjusted the substitutions accordingly, and we never gave up for a moment, we fought hard. It is important that we have players on our team who do the "dirty work."

– Do you realize that the team is in the top sixteen of the Europa League?
– For now, we're just getting used to the feeling. I won't forget this Thursday night, it was a great experience to celebrate with the fans after the final whistle. The atmosphere in the Groupama Aréna is unique.

– How does the team cope mentally with the heavy load of the series?
– It's natural. We don't have much of the fall season left, we can go on holiday from mid-November, but until then, we have to concentrate on the matches with all our nerves. For my part, I had a good rest over the summer, my wife, daughter, and I were at home in Norway, we didn't want to go anywhere, we thought that there's no better place than home. I think we'll probably be there all winter as well. Fortunately, there will be a lot to talk about, so some evenings will be filled with a ton of stories.

Translated by Vanda Orosz