It’s a photo that went around the world in just a few hours. Which has also become the subject of multiple humorous montages on social networks. Wednesday evening, during Real Madrid’s defeat at Liverpool in the Champions League (2-0), Kylian Mbappé found himself upside down, as if buried in the ground, following contact with a Reds defender in first period. In the front row, English photographer Peter Powell captures this incredible moment. He tells Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France how he did it. And is delighted to have taken THE photo of the match.
“I’m 50 years old and I work as a freelance photographer in the UK for the national press and agencies. Wednesday evening, I covered the match between Liverpool and Real Madrid for the EPA agency with which I have been working for 13 years on major football events (World Cup, Euro and European finals). Before becoming a freelance photographer, I worked for 16 years for the News of the World newspaper.
On Wednesday evening I was sitting on one side of the pitch, alongside the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand. It’s not a position I usually occupy as I prefer to be behind a goal. But in this match, with Vinicius Junior’s injury, I knew that all eyes would be on Kylian Mbappé who found his preferred position, on the left side, rather than at the forefront of the attack where he has mainly played this season. So, I knew that Kylian would be one of the major subjects of this match whatever happened, regardless of the result, and I focused on him much more than normal.
I had noticed on a previous tackle that, after falling to the ground, his reaction and protests were later than usual. So much so that when he was tackled by Liverpool defender Conner Bradley, I focused on Mbappé longer than usual to see his reaction. After contact he stumbled forward and his reaction was to roll over, which is when I took the photo. Right away, I knew it would be a good image.
Regardless of the outcome of the match, capturing such a world football star in such a strange position is rare, so I was happy to have caught it. So with this result, and with Mbappé missing a penalty, this image seems to have captured the very essence of this match. A little strange, abnormal.
I rarely look at how my photos are used abroad but I was very happy to see that this one had made the front page of many newspapers and many sports media around the world. »
