CNN —
Lionel Messi sits on Sergio Aguero’s shoulders, both hands clasped tightly around the World Cup trophy as he holds it up.
A big smile crosses his face, his eyes shine; It’s a moment of pure, raw joy, the culmination of a lifetime dream after years of World Cup heartbreak, all captured in a split second.
It’s a photo Messi uploaded to celebrate his World Cup win over France – now the most popular post in Instagram history, overtaking an ordinary brown egg – and was taken by Getty photographer Shaun Botterill, who one Front row seats were reserved for the most iconic moments in sports history.
Botterill says the photographers at Sunday’s World Cup final planned for one of them to step onto the pitch in front of the billboards next to the main stand, where the vast majority of Argentina’s fans at Lusail Stadium were.
After Messi spent some time with his family after the trophy presentation, Argentina’s captain made his way towards the fans, causing the photographers at the end of the pitch to rush towards the goal.
“I almost got trapped, but trapped in the right place,” Botterill tells CNN. “I think if most of us [photographers] To be honest, you always need a bit of luck and I had a bit on Sunday evening.
“Messi was just there and didn’t move that much, sometimes you get pushed around and he just did everything, with one hand, with two hands on the trophy.
“We had no idea what would happen in the end. You can plan the cup lift, but you can’t plan the run, and you don’t know how messy it’s going to be. I was pretty close to him, I’m probably no more than two meters away.
“It’s a pretty weird feeling, it’s a bit surreal, you’re like, ‘Holy s**t,’ he’s right where you want him to be, and that doesn’t happen often.
“Even his hands come up [with the trophy]I think the way he’s holding it and smiling, he’s definitely having a moment with the fans.”
As Aguero, a former Argentinian team-mate of Messi’s who quit in December 2021 after being diagnosed with an arrhythmia, carried his friend to the other side of the stands, Botterill immediately grabbed a cable from one of the remote-controlled cameras behind the goal and plugged it in into his camera and sent the photo to his editors.
Coincidentally, Botterill’s son was working at the cutting desk that evening.
“My eldest texted me and said, ‘I edited your picture dad, it’s quite a nice picture,'” recalls Botterill.
His son’s feedback has proven to be quite an understatement.
Immediately afterwards, Botterill “knew it was a pretty good picture” – humility clearly runs in the family – but there’s always concern that another photographer might have taken a better shot from a slightly different angle, given “little fringes” can cause a big difference.
The British photographer admits that the crop Messi used on Instagram wasn’t his favorite version of the photo as the wider view provides greater context and better captures the admiration the Argentina captain was receiving.
Even after a career that began at the 1986 World Cup, Botterill says those moments still seem surreal.
“I actually remember thinking, ‘Blimey, how the hell did I end up where I am?'” says Botterill. “Because in such situations you are governed by where the masses push you.
“Looking back, you can’t believe that this guy is sitting in front of you on Sergio Aguero’s shoulders, holding up the World Cup and showing it to his fans.
“It has that effect, doesn’t it? It has the happy face, it has the joy, it has the trophy and it looks kind of messy.”
As someone who doesn’t have a social media account, Botterill says he was initially completely unaware that his photo had made history.
On Wednesday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Messi’s Instagram post featuring Botterill’s snap broke the record for most likes in the app’s history. It now has more than 72 million likes – and the trend is rising.
The egg photo posted in 2019 that usurped Messi’s post for the record now has 57 million likes.
“That’s the funny thing for me because I’m not on Instagram, I wouldn’t even know how to crop an Instagram picture,” says Botterill.
“To me it’s hilarious that you have this 55 year old guy who isn’t on Instagram and he has two boys who think it’s the funniest thing there is.
“The youngest said, ‘It’s like 62 million, dad.’ I’m from a small town in Northampton so it’s pretty bizarre.
“It’s kind of crazy because … I didn’t really know what was going on,” adds Botterill. “It was just when a colleague texted me and said, ‘Oh, did you see how many likes? [your photo has]?’
“So it’s kind of ironic that suddenly I’m this old guy who’s not on social media who obviously posted a picture on the back of a great footballer that got picked up on a bit. So it’s actually quite funny — I got off the plane and I didn’t know what the hell was going on.”
After 36 years in the industry, Botterill says he still feels the same passion and excitement he had as an 18-year-old just starting out trying to capture the sport’s iconic moments.
After covering his first World Cup as an editor in 1986, Botterill took a career break and even turned down the chance to go to the 1990 World Cup as he was busy scaffolding. He returned to photography to cover the 1994 World Cup and has been at every edition since.
Born in 1967 near the English town of Northampton, Botterill had his first break at the age of 16 at the agency founded by renowned sports photographer Bob Thomas, working in the darkroom.
Given his huge portfolio and the number of big events he has covered, it’s hard for Botterill to pick a favorite photo of his.
He reveals that photographers are “kind of funny,” rarely linger too long on a snap, and instead always look forward to the “next decent shot.”
However, when everything falls into place, like it did at Lusail Stadium on Sunday, Botterill takes a moment to savor it.
“I think if you get a picture of a player or an athlete that’s really up there, they can debate if he’s the greatest of all time. is it pele Is it Maradona?” he says.
“But the important thing is him [Messi] is up there, so it’s a nice feeling when you get a really nice picture of a great player.
“He’s great, he’s fantastic, he’s amazing. So that gives you the kick to get a really good picture.
“Everyone else can decide what they think about the photo, but it’s a really beautiful picture of one of the greatest players of all time, so for me that’s the most beautiful thing. That’s why you have to work.”