With sports photography the same thing applies as with any type of photography, you’ve got to look for something which is aesthetically interesting. I’ve chosen this shot from a Roma versus Liverpool game as my favourite photograph. But it’s not of the football, it’s the crowd. 

Before the game the Roma fans, all of these Ultras I’d never seen before, were setting off fireworks, smoke grenades and flares, and I thought, ‘how extraordinary.’ If you used a long lens, say a 400mm, you couldn’t see much because of all the smoke, so I put on a 35mm, jumped over the barrier and went into the crowd. It looks more like a crazy political rally than a football match. 

Surprisingly, years later I heard from the guy in the middle of the photograph and I finished up sending him a print. He told me he didn’t attend football matches anymore, instead he looked after his grandkids. It’s very satisfying to see it and I come back to it time and again and it doesn’t tire, which I guess is a sign of a photograph that ticks all the boxes.