Brazilian World Cup legend Jairzinho takes a photo: Best photo of Michael Donald | Art and design

II’m not a crazy football fan. What I love most about the game is its universal appeal – it’s all about the ball crossing the goal line, and a goal is a goal whether it’s two shirts in a park or the goal that decides the outcome of the World Cup. But when I realized in 2007 that only 58 people had scored in a World Cup final and only 34 of those guys were still alive, I thought it would be a great idea to photograph them.

It soon became clear that book sales alone would never fund the project, as there were only two English players, the rest were in Europe or South America. But a successful pitch to a film producer gave me the opportunity to travel to 13 countries with a documentary crew. Over the course of four years, we interviewed every member of the exclusive World Cup club, and I photographed them all.

This is Jair Ventura Filho, known as Jairzinho, who scored Brazil’s third goal when they won the title in Mexico City in 1970, beating Italy 4-1. He currently works with underprivileged children in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. This photo was taken in a slum in the Manguinhos neighbourhood, where he runs a soccer school.

Favelas are dizzying shantytowns where the police have no jurisdiction. There is an unwritten rule that anyone who does not live in the slums must be out by 5 p.m. We had to hire guards from local drug lords – they were basically just kids, and by mid-afternoon they got bored and left. We filmed with Jairzinho on a public soccer field, and when we were leaving, I saw this beautiful old soccer table outside the bar. It seemed like a gift, and Jairzinho really liked it. I said, “We have to do this. Can I have 10 more minutes?”

When I do documentary photography, I don’t like things to look artificially lit, but I had my assistant Stevie carry a little light. I shoot with a Hasselblad camera with a digital background and always use a tripod. I learned early on that if the camera stays in the same place and I’m looking into the viewfinder and talking to the person I’m photographing, they won’t change their behavior, which is not the case if you move and raise the camera to point directly at their face.

As I set up the shot, I noticed a man approaching in the street on a bicycle – not the child you can see in the photo. He came slinking across the frame and disappeared behind me, where Dan the director, Gretha the producer, and a few other crew members were standing with our local coordinator, waiting for us to finish. I was focusing on Jairzinho, but I could hear an increasingly heated conversation. Finally, Dan said, “Michael, I think we should go.”

When you photograph a famous person, they never give you enough time – you just keep going until they get enough. Jairzinho seemed fine, so I continued playing for a few more minutes, until I was sure I got the frame. Then I turned to see the man on the bike pointing a gun at Dan and Gretha. Dan said: Do you understand now?

This man seemed to have objected to our presence in the slums. The rest of the crew and the repairman had left, but Stevie, Jairzinho and I were too focused on what we were doing to notice. Dan and Gretha could have easily insisted that we leave immediately, but I really appreciated them giving me time to get the shot I wanted. We didn’t hang out.

Aside from the composition and the fact that we were able to shoot in the favelas, which is typical of Rio, what I love about this photo is the fact that the chaos happening behind the camera is not at all evident in the photo. This is often the case with photography.

Biography of Michael Donald

child: Wakefield. 1966 – Although I was born there by mistake, I am actually from Belfast.
High point: Winning things is great and seeing work published internationally is great, but the high points are when you really feel fully immersed in what you’re doing.
Top tip: If you want to make a living, you’ll have to do what you’re told, but always make sure you’re also doing your own thing. Work that really interests you, not what you think you should do. This is where you will produce your best work and it will make you better at everything else.