This is how I took the iconic picture of Diaby kicking Terry's head

PUBLISHED: 04:18 EST, 29 October 2013 | UPDATED: 04:29 EST, 29 October 2013

View
comments

Sportsmail photographer Andy Hooper took this amazing picture, of the exact moment Abou Diaby's boot came into contact with John Terry's head in the 2007 League Cup final.

This shot was part of a portfolio that saw him win Sports Photographer of the Year in 2008 at the British Press Awards.

Chelsea went on to win the game 2-1 and, although Terry was knocked out and taken to hospital, he recovered and rejoined the squad later on that day.

Great sports pictures always happen in an instant and this was no exception. At the 2007 Carling Cup final at the Millennium Stadium I was following John Terry through my lens when... WOW!

Abou Diaby kicked at the ball and Terry's head connected with his boot a split second after. It happened so fast that you actually didn't believe it had even happened at all.

Top marks to Terry for throwing himself at the ball like that, there aren't too many players that would do that. It looked like it would have been extremely painful. I would like to say that I captured this picture at exactly the right moment, but I just let my motor drive off at high speed (10 frames per second).

Collision: John Terry dived in for a header but Abou Diaby ended up kicking him in the head

There are three frames in the sequence but this one stands out by miles - the ball has left the frame but the boot is right on the end of Terry's chin. You can even see all the grass exploding off Diaby's boot as it hits Terry's face.

The interesting thing about this picture is with over 150 photographers at the game, very few captured the image like this.

I guess the lesson from this is t always concentrate during the games, as this collision really did come out of nowhere.