Zsolt Nagy would still be running for joy after his goal against Germany

– At the end of the 2022 season, several Puskás Akadémia footballers showed that they are not embarrassed to change sports and play hockey. Head coach Zsolt Hornyák highlighted Yoëll van Nieff's performance, but the video on the website showed that goalkeeper Balázs Tóth also seemed to have found himself on the ice. However, we did not see you there.
– This program was optional: we could play ice hockey, but I decided to train – said Zsolt Nagy, 13-time national team player of Puskás Akadémia. – I know how to skate, but I haven't tried ice hockey yet.

– It was in the last days of the past year that the best players of the different age groups were elected in Felcsút: at the NB I team, was it a question who deserved the title?
– I have no way of knowing it. In any case, I was very happy to be chosen, but I was surprised even though I knew I had to go to the ceremony. I am proud to have been recognized for my achievement. Luckily, I have experienced something similar before.

– This October will mark your ten-year debut in the first division. Was the last season your best one in terms of your values?
– That's for sure! We finished third in the league with Puskás Akadémia, and I was also on the national team. I've had a lot of experiences: to say the least, my first goal for the national team, or the match in Wolverhampton where we beat England 4-0 and I scored a goal.

– Can we say that June 2022 is the summit of your career?
– No question! Despite getting seriously injured shortly afterwards. The league was already over, but we had four games in the Nations League with the national team, and against opponents of great quality. I remember when the groups were announced, we were given little chance, many people underestimated our team, but we believed in ourselves and achieved not a good result, but an outstanding one. Even when I wake up from my deepest dream, I can still see myself taking the ball with my left foot and kicking it under the bar with my right one in the home game against Germany. If the stands weren't full of cheering fans, I might still be running! The icing on the cake was the away win against England, I can't decide which was the greater experience.

– Was it difficult to come to terms with the fact that, when you were playing in the best shape of your life, you partially tore the medial collateral ligament in your left knee against Guimarães in the European Conference League match, just three days before the Nations League kick-off?
– I thought a lot about what could have caused the injury - I must have done something wrong. Maybe I was a bit more tense than I should have been, maybe I didn't go into the duels as I usually do, but the Portuguese player fell on my leg, so I was injured through no fault of my own. It hurt me to miss two important Nations League matches and, because I was not due to play again until November, the two preparation games in November were not realistic either. Marco Rossi, the national team head coach, kept asking about my condition, which meant a lot, and I owe a huge thank you to those who helped me to return in October.

– Until your injury, you seemed to be an unstoppable threat to the national team, but since then, it has become clear that you have a very strong rival in the person of nineteen-year-old Milos Kerkez.
– I think we're both motivated to do our best, so it's not a bad thing if one of us is unavailable for some reason, you can always put the other one in. I always want to be better, I hope we can do well in NB I and the Hungarian Cup with Puskás Akadémia and in the European Championships qualifiers with the national team.

– On Sunday, you're off to Marbella for a training camp with Puskás Akadémia: do you count how many times you have been to Southern Spain?
– I just know it's the umpteenth time. I like to go to training camps; we need this period to be in good shape for the league opener against Mezőkövesd. Actually, I'm going there later because the M4 Sport – Athlete of the Year Gala is on Monday, and the national team has been nominated in the traditional team sport category. It's an honor that I got to be there as well.

Translated by: Vanda Orosz