Nike salutes the beautiful game, with ‘the last game’ for ‘Risk nothing’ clones

Three days prior to the start of the FIFA World Cup, Nike has rolled out the third part of its 'Risk Everything' campaign. Titled 'The Last Game', this is a five-minute animated film and features animated versions of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar Jr., Andres Iniesta and company looking to save football from the hands of a villainous mastermind, The Scientist.

 

The Scientist has been analysing the game for years. He is dismissive of the audacious risks that the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Neymar Jr. take on the pitch. His research, which includes the claim that Ibrahimovic's overhead kicks have a 76 percent chance of missing, leads him to create 'The Clones' of all these players, who are programmed to remove all risk-taking and focus only on efficiency, decision-making and results.

 

With 'The Clones' now playing football, the style of the game has gone missing. Meanwhile, the 'real players' are now living normal lives. This is when Brasilian legend Ronaldo (O Fenómeno) decides to reignite the 'beautiful game' and goes on a mission to re-assemble the group of footballers David Luiz, Wayne Rooney and Tim Howard, besides Cristiano Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Neymar Jr and Iniesta featured earlier in the film. He rescues a dejected Ibrahimovic from a bookstall outside a stadium, leaving copies of 'I AM ZLATAN' behind. Ronaldo, who is now relegated to life as a window mannequin, is snatched by his namesake from a Sport-u-gal shop window. Iniesta’s life as a farmer ends. Neymar and David Luiz's new careers as hairdressers are cut short as Ronaldo goes to get them next, and Wayne Rooney’s stint as a fisherman washes up when he’s bundled into the back of a van.

 

After gathering the players, Ronaldo manages to convince the players with a stirring speech about beating 'The Clones'. To remove any doubts, the Brazilian legend reminds them of some of their own greatest moments as they walk the stairs to a secret location.

 

Once the game begins, it's the flamboyance of the 'real players' that triumphs.

 

Davide Grasso, CMO, Nike, said, "The idea behind ‘The Last Game’ is to show the world that Nike, like any true lover of football, believes that the game should be brilliant, daring and bold. Having the confidence to take risks is absolutely vital in football. Imagine a world without the brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo, the acrobatics of Zlatan or the wizardry of Neymar.

 

"The final 90 seconds of The Last Game prove, beyond any doubt, that brilliant football should be the only kind of football. Brilliant, creative, risk-taking football. That is what #riskeverything is all about.”