Web Animation / Marca Toons

Left to right: David Villa, Lionel Messi and Andrés Iniesta.

Marca Toons was a Spanish comedy web animation series that ran on the website of sports newspaper Marca from January 2007 to June 2010 as an All-CGI Cartoon and from August 2010 to January 2012 in 2D. It starred cartoon depictions of Real Life La Liga stars, mostly FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF players, and turned current events related with both clubs into comedy sketches.

This series has examples of:

• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Shakira is Colombian, but her cartoon's accent sounds closer to Argentine.^note In case you're wondering: her presence in this soccer cartoon is due to her romantic involvement with FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué.
• Berserk Button: Iniesta is normally as calm a man as it gets. But don't you dare talk trash about Fuentealbilla (the town where he was born) in front of him.
  • Exploited once by Mourinho to drive a wedge between him and Messi.
  • Parodied once with Guardiola, when he reacted to a remark from Messi about his hometown of Santpedor the exact same way Iniesta does with bad comments of Fuentealbilla.
  • It gets also deconstructed at a point, when the rest of Barça players are starting to get afraid of talking near him, as they fear he'll mishear any word as "Fuentealbilla" and subsequently make them feel his wrath (which does happen with Piqué at the end of the episode).
• Butt-Monkey: Pedro León suffers from this big time, being constantly humiliated by Mourinho for his poor performance.
• Catchphrase: "YOU DON'T TOUCH MY TOWN!" - Iniesta, whenever someone pushes his Berserk Button. Invariably followed by an offscreen No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • There is also a case of Borrowed Catchphrase on an occasion when Villa and Messi say the line along with him as he's about to beat up Mourinho for deriding the Fuentealbilla food.
• The Cameo: One episode features two-time Formula One world champ Fernando Alonso paying a visit to the Real Madrid headquarters... and Özil getting on his nerves with constant mentions of his then Arch-Enemy Sebastian Vettel.
• Comically Missing the Point: In the episode where Messi gets a fake passport, he points out that his new passport says he's a Spanish man called Hermenegildo Ruipérez, born "somewhere nobody in their right mind would want to go". When said somewhere turns out to be Santpedor, Guardiola's hometown, Guardiola reacts in the same way Iniesta does when someone badmouths Fuentealbilla, and then this exchange happens:
  Villa: I didn't see this coming!
  Iniesta: Me neither. Hermenegildo? Who picks such an ugly name for himself?
• Commitment Issues: Exaggerated with Guardiola, only, in this case it's professional commitment. On one episode, FC Barcelona president Sandro Rosell struggles to get him to extend his contract with the team for longer than one hour.
• Distinction Without a Difference: During a Barça training, Piqué discusses the possibility of asking a friend of his to forge a passport for Messi so that he can dump the Argentine national team for the Spanish.
  Piqué: No, man, of course it's not illegal! Just make sure the police doesn't catch you.
• Funny Foreigner: Özil certainly fits the bill, with his very little grasp of Spanish and cheerful demeanor.
  ÖZIL WIG!!!
• Gilligan Cut: On one episode, Shakira asks Gerard Piqué to celebrate the next goal he scores by dancing to her new single to help her promote it. Piqué doesn't want to do it, but agrees thinking to himself that he rarely scores goals since he's a defender. Cut to game day, when Guardiola orders him to shoot a penalty... and he scores.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: An entire episode was based on this routine. Pep Guardiola had an angel and a demon trying to counsel him on how to deal with a really stupid question at a press conference. After the angel defeats the demon with the help of a blowgun and a tranquilizer dart, the demon wonders how does Mourinho manage this kind of situation before slipping out of conciousness entirely.
  • Made even funnier because, right after it, we get an Answer Cut to Mourinho at a press conference, and his own angel and demon appear to him when a journalist asks him about the referee. Esentially, both the angel and the demon agree to give Mourinho leeway to badmouth the referee.
• Mean Boss: José Mourinho. Best shown in his disdain towards Pedro León:
  Mourinho: Is there anyone who can make it on Monday?
  Pedro León: Me, me, me...!
  Mourinho: Pedro León, step aside. You don't let me see the real footballers.
• Musical Episode: Iniesta was the star of one with a Cover Version of Shakira's Loca about why "you don't touch his town".
• Not Quite Starring: None of the Real Life people depicted on the show voice their characters.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • Mourinho tries to pass Özil off as a player promoted from the youth team by just putting a wig on him and calling him Azil. It's enough to fool Florentino Pérez during the game, but he eventually gets caught.
  • In another episode, Mourinho wants to sign Neymar to Real Madrid, so Sergio Ramos brings in Pedro León disguised as Neymar. The plan succeeds, at least until Xabi Alonso and Özil screw everything up…
  Ramos: Mister! Look who I brought you!
  Pedro León: Saludinho!
  Mourinho: Neymar? You look different in the pictures, less similar to Pedro León.
  Pedro León: Pedro León? Não conozco!
  Mourinho: Yeah, he's a failed player that—
  Pedro León: (sobs)
  Mourinho: And now why is he crying?
  Ramos: Of joy, from being at Madrid.
• Read the Fine Print: Mourinho offers Pedro León a contract to officially change his nickname... but after signing it, he learns it actually was a contract to send him on loan to another club. At least his nickname does change: he is no longer "The Substitute", now he is "The Loaned".
  Mourinho: Good luck at Hércules!
• Ripped from the Headlines: Several episodes parody Real Life events related to Barça or Real Madrid.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Gerard Piqué endlessly denies that he's dating Shakira, even when it becomes obvious he is.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Mourinho is this to both Guardiola and Jorge Valdano, parodying his Real Life animosity towards both of them.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: On an episode, José Mourinho decided to not let Özil participate in the training sessions until he learns some Spanish. Ramos tries to help him telling him to just move his lips and he'll provide the voice from somewhere else, which results in this Epic Fail:
  Mourinho: Wow, Özil! You can already talk?
  Ramos as Özil: Sure! And I'll even sing the Real Madrid anthem for you if you want, quillo.^note Andalusian slang word for "dude", "pal", often used by Ramos both in the cartoon and in Real Life
  Mourinho: Quillo? Why are you talking like Sergio Ramos?
  Ramos as Özil: Are you accusing Sergio Ramos of being the one actually speaking while Özil just opens his mouth and pretends to do it?
  Mourinho: No.
  Ramos as Özil: Better, because I'm not Sergio Ramos playing Özil. And there's absolutely no way I'm hiding behind the hedge that's exactly two meters on your right.
  Mourinho goes to said hedge, smelling a rat, and finds Ramos there.
  Ramos: (visibly nervous) Hey, coach! What are you doing here?
• Third-Person Person: Cristiano Ronaldo.