When Phil Dunster lined up his free kick from 45 yards as the fictional AFC Richmond striker Jamie Tartt in Apple TV+'s hit show "Ted Lasso," he was summoning his inner Cristiano Ronaldo. He just didn't know exactly how much Ronaldo he was channeling.
Dunster wanted to recreate Ronaldo's famous free-kick goal from the 2009 Champions League semifinal against Arsenal that defied odds, physics and Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia. Here was the 29-year-old Dunster, last spring, on a pitch at Hayes and Yeading United F.C., just down the street from the West London Film Studios where "Ted Lasso" -- which won four Emmys on Sunday night, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and seven overall -- was filmed, trying to replicate not just one of the hardest shots in all of soccer, but trying to emulate one of the best scorers the game has ever seen.