Ash Donelon's Shots of the Season: Part Three

“One thing I didn’t fully appreciate until I worked at United was the sheer number of camera operators in the stadium on a matchday. If you look around the edges of this photo you can see six different lenses all pointed at the same scene, and there are plenty more outside the frame too. That’s why I’m always looking for different places to shoot from, as there’s no point in getting the same angle as everyone else. I took this shot from the back row of the press seats, with my camera on silent mode so I didn’t disturb the commentary of Owen Hargreaves who was right next to me. This celebration was following Scott’s first goal, and I love the passion from Diogo and the smile of Antony in this scene.”

“Bayern Munich versus Manchester United is a classic European fixture and one I’d been looking forward to ever since the UEFA Champions League draw was made at the end of August. The atmosphere inside the Allianz Arena that night was incredible with both sets of fans making loads of noise, and the match was a frenetic end-to-end affair. Although as a photographer I’m there to capture the main action, and I took plenty of goal celebration photos at this game, my favourite shot from the match in September is this one of Bruno Fernandes and Kim Min-jae battling for the ball. I feel it encapsulates the determination to win displayed by both teams in what was a seven-goal thriller.”

“One of the challenges of being a club photographer is you never know which direction the teams will attack until the referee flips a coin right before kick-off, so you’ve got to be ready to move all your camera equipment to the opposite end of the pitch at a moment’s notice. On this occasion, United won the coin toss and Scott McTominay chose to make Liverpool kick towards the Kop end in the first half, which was met with a chorus of boos from the Anfield faithful and cheers from the United fans, which made me smile. This meant in the second half I was sat in front of the home supporters, and although much of the action involved our players shutting down the Liverpool offence at the other end, I needed to stay alert to capture any United counterattacks. When Rasmus Hojlund broke through on goal I utilised a slow shutter speed to convey a sense of speed and movement, and I feel our all-white third kit really helps him stand out against the background.”

“United fans are usually allocated a small corner section at away grounds, but as over 7,000 Reds travelled to Wigan, for this match they were given the entire East Stand spanning the length of the pitch. For the first half I was stationed in front of our supporters, as it’s often the prime location for goal celebration photos. When Diogo Dalot opened the scoring he ran to celebrate on the opposite side, but at least I was able to capture his long-range strike from my position so it worked out all right. I wanted to get a different perspective for the second half so I moved to the South Stand, and as Bruno Fernandes prepared to take a corner, I switched to a wide lens so I could include the away section as a backdrop. Despite the bitterly cold temperature the atmosphere on the night was incredible, and our fans were so loud it felt more like we were the home side!”

“As United had never played Newport County before, I wanted to capture the