Szoboszlai: I don't think we have anything to fear in Manchester

– Tired?
– I am, to say the least – Dominik Szoboszlai answered our question right after the Champions League round of 16 rematch against Manchester City. – What happened in the first half was expected: City possessed the ball and tried to pull apart our defense. We couldn't do much against them, but we held our ground and didn't allow them many opportunities. And yet, they still took the lead. I don't know what happened at the goal, how the ball got through Joško Gvardiol, but despite being at a disadvantage, I felt we were together as a team. We came out for the second half as we should have come out for the first. We possessed the ball more, played more effectively, we created opportunities and scored a goal.

– In the first half, Manchester City's ball possession was seventy-four percent. How overwhelming did it feel on the pitch?
– It's a fact that football is played with a ball, and I hate having to keep running after it, but sometimes it's a must. We knew it was going to happen and the mistake we made was defending too much in the back in the first half. So, the solution was to move up, which we did in the second half. We always learn from our mistakes, and we will draw the right conclusions from this game, too.

– What did Marco Rose say at the break to get the team going?

– I can't tell you exactly, but... He asked us to pull ourselves together because it's not a training match but the round of 16 of the Champions League.

– The message certainly got through, because a completely different Leipzig was on the pitch then. How satisfied are you with your own performance?
– I couldn't play the football I should have played in the first half because of City's dominance of ball possession. When I got the ball, I tried to hold on to it, to take an unexpected turn in the wing, but nothing really worked. After the break, the whole team woke up, we got in front of City's goal line, and I played better as well.

– You needed just a little more to give a goal pass because as you sent the ball between Nathan Aké's legs to Benjamin Henrichs...
– It would have been good to have equalized earlier because we would have had more time to win, but I'm not dissatisfied. Overall, it was a good game, and we performed well in the second half. Frankfurt awaits us on Saturday, and we'll try to make the most of the two-day break.

– It's worth mentioning that your good friend Erling Haaland didn't perform the best. Was he in the spotlight?
– I gave some information about him to Willi Orbán and Joško Gvardiol before the match, not that they needed it very much. Willi is a professional to the extreme and Joško is a world-class midfielder, so they knew what they had to do: they prevented Erling Haaland from scoring and they both played superbly.

– Do you think the team can advance in the rematch in Manchester?

– I expect a good game, I don't think we have anything to fear. We have nothing to lose, the main thing is to just enjoy the game. It's important to possess the ball as much as possible, even if the opponent is City. I'm sure we'll have our opportunities and hopefully we won't make the mistakes we made at home. In reality, though, I'm not thinking about that game yet. We've got a busy spring schedule, so now our focus is to be fresh for the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Translated by Vanda Orosz.