Stopira: "The cup match against FTC last year was one of the most memorable matches of my life"

"I still remember vividly the Hungarian Cup away game against FTC last February, it was a really crazy match. We travelled to the capital not in good form, we had lost twice in a row at home in the league just before the cup game against FTC. Apart from our fans and ourselves, no one really believed that we could beat Ferencváros on the road, but we didn't think about it. In the dressing room, we cheered each other on with our team-mates before kick-off, we believed in ourselves and in each other. We started well and quickly took the lead, but a few minutes later I scored an extremely unlucky own goal. I was very angry with myself, I was incredibly angry inside, but I tried to suppress my emotions. I did my best not to get caught by the own goal, I said to myself 'come on Stopi, there is still plenty of time left, you will be able to correct your mistake'. I could also sense from my teammates that they still had confidence in me and that helped me to break the deadlock. That night we played very brave football, we did a lot to win. In the 40th minute, when I managed to score a goal from a corner, I felt a great emotion, it was one of the most memorable games of my life.

I was happy to be able to help the team and I was also happy that we managed to show that we were much better than many people thought we were because of our results at the time. The way the team reacted to my own goal was very important. Nobody hurt us and we didn't break down, but we pushed ourselves even harder and really fought for each other and won the game. It's also important to point out that Tamás Szalai, who was the acting head coach in that match, also had confidence in us throughout, had very good training sessions and managed to get the team fired up before the match, motivating everyone.

We have another tough encounter against FTC on Sunday night, but this is a chance to prove once again that we are better than we have been in the league so far. Last time we got an important away win against Honvéd, and we have been working very well in training all week. The coaching staff has also prepared us for the big task ahead, I'm confident that everyone will do their best and we will keep the 3 league points at home," Stopira told our website.