Messi hanging laundry at the Bernabéu: The production and consumption of Internet sports memes as trash talk

Internet memes and trash talk are communal activities that can be both playful and divisive. As such, Internet sport memes provide an instrument by which fans can broaden the extent of trash talk discourse to the digital sphere. This work explored how fan communities used Internet sport memes as trash talk within the context of the rivalry matches played between Futbol Club Barcelona and Real Madrid Club de Fùtbol. A grounded theory analysis of memes generated in response to rivalry matches indicated that fans used memes to practice diminution of their rival opponents and idolization of their own players. This was achieved by leveraging current content from recent matches, accessing in-depth knowledge about those contests and the rivalry generally, and juxtapositioning images and text to humorous effect to assert a specific reality among supporters.