Water polo: I fought for the Champions League gold! – Gergő Zalánki

– You've been chasing the Champions League win for a long time, and now you succeeded...
– Yes, I have been chasing it for quite a long time, and so far, I have been unlucky, even though I have always signed with better and better teams in order to win – Gergő Zalánki told Nemzeti Sport after Pro Recco won the Champions League final against Novi Beograd in the shootout with his penalty (4-3 after 13-13). – I don't know how many Champions League seasons I have had and how many final eight or six matches I have played, but I am very happy that I finally could win with Recco. I think I deserve the gold medal because I fought hard for it.

– How did it feel knowing that if you scored the last penalty, you would win and your big dream would come true?
– It was better shooting like that than knowing if I missed, we'd lose... I swam up to the 5-meter penalty with positive thoughts, but then I ruled out any external circumstances and just thought about throwing a strong shot, and then happens what happens.

– What happened was that, shortly afterwards, a gold medal was put around your neck. Where do you rank this in your achievements so far?

– Right after the 2020 European Championship victory in Budapest – we won at home with the national team, and it's always a beautiful memory. But I'm also very happy about this one because I've been working for it for so long.

– What was it like to play the whole season knowing that everyone expected the Champions League win from Recco?
– After the Italian league final, I thought it was great that we won it, but that was the minimum. However, the Champions League win is clearly a feat; we were not quite the favorites. A lot of people thought we were the favorites, but even Barceloneta could have won the final eight if we had lost in the first leg. We also fought Fradi, where my former teammates maybe got a little more tired in the end, but it was not an easy match either. Novi Beograd is also an incredibly strong team, so any of our three opponents could have made it to the end. It was very difficult to win against the hosts.

– It seemed that the team got in the best shape for the final in the three-day tournament in Belgrade.
– That was the plan before the final eight, and what's more, we swam a lot during training. We had such swimming training sessions that we didn't really understand what was going on... When we arrived in Belgrade, we still did a strong thousand meters, which surprised me, because there is usually a little paddling and shooting in the program. It was clear that we were preparing for the last day of the final eight, and the timing of our peak performance was on spot. This was a bit of a risky preparation, but it worked. Sandro Sukno did it right.

– Tibor Benedek, Tamás Kásás, Norbert Madaras, Gergő Zalánki – Hungarian water polo players who won the Champions League with Pro Recco...
– It's an honor to join them. I'm very happy!

– Are you planning for the long term with Recco? You've told us before how good you feel in Italy.
– I still have two years left on my contract, but there might be more...