Franck Ribery in The Pink Panther Ad for Nike

Bayern Munich and France midfielder Franck Ribery conjures up the idea of a few movies from looking at him. You know Ribery, he looks like Peter Beardsley would have looked if he'd been brought up in care.



Which is why I am absolutely astonished to see him starring in this advert for the Nike Mercurial Vapour Rosa. It's based around the start of The Pink Panther Show. The jaunty one, not the suspenseful 'der der' one. The only connection I can see is that Ribery is French, like Inspector Clouseau, and the boots are pink.



Yes, pink football boots. Nicklas Bendtner of Arsenal got an inordinate amount of stick for sporting the same new boots at the weekend. As well as this sort of thing from the Telegraph, Matthew Le Tissier was horrendously scathing about Bendtner wearing such a garment when having done 'nothing in the game'. Not Saturday's game, football. Harsh but true.



Anyway, Ribery is a quality player but this is kind of like Paul Scholes being King Rollo. Unlikely, but brilliant. It's worth watching just to remind you of the music, too. Well done Nike.