This time it doesn't come directly from the club or Real Madrid TV. If it did, it would bear Florentino Pérez's signature. The strategy is more cunning and originates from Real Madrid's environment.
The insinuation is repeated persistently in interviews and social media until it finally sinks in with the audience. Distinguished Madridists, former players and former club doctors, and celebrities by profession participate in the farce.
Bandages That Lead to Doping
It is about insinuating, without saying it clearly, that Barça's miracle might have something to do with doping. What is it based on? On the hand bandages that have become fashionable among some Barça players.
It is not stated directly, nor are names offered. It is simply hinted at. And slander, something remains.
It is not the first time that accusations of doping have been launched from Real Madrid when the white team is unable to face Barça. It happened in the era of Leo Messi. Even Bernabéu shouted loudly "Messi, hormone dwarf."
Now it's about the bandages, which apparently make Real Madrid's environment very nervous. The latest, the former head of the white club's medical services, Niko Mihic.
"It Could Be That They Haven't Bribed Negreira"
In an interview with the newspaper Marca, he said: "It could be that they are designing strategy games, playing a lot of foosball and the tendinitis... in the same way that it could be that they haven't bribed Negreira. I don't know what's happening, but what I want to say is that any doctor knows that if you want easier venous access, it's in the hands and wrists."
This is how clearly they speak from Real Madrid's environment about easy venous access to explain the bandages that several Barça players wear on their wrists. Exactly like the one Karim Benzema wore for many years without suffering any injury.
The doctor in question adds: "It's a lot to say, but I don't understand why they are doing it and that they deny it. Let them say 'no,' but show me what you're doing. What's the secret? It's not for playing foosball, right?"
He concludes: "I don't believe in trends. I believe that a player doesn't play with equipment that designs an injury, a deficiency, unless it's to do something with it, it's not because it's more handsome."
It is clear that the doctor in question knows what he has to say. They ask him about footballers' bandages, and he comes out with Negreira and never-proven bribes. Very much in his role.
Kiko Matamoros, TV's Rüdiger, Joins the Doping Trend
But the doctor is not an isolated case. He is part of a network of characters who cowardly release their doubts and suspicions in the hope that the message will sink in. They are not brave enough to openly state what they imply.
For example, the distinguished Madridist Kiko Matamoros, a worthy exponent of the rough Madridism embodied by Antonio Rüdiger.
The newspaper Marca, once again, headlined: "Kiko Matamoros Doubts the Physical Capacity of Barça Players and Hints at the Possibility of Doping." And there it remains.
In a tweet, he questioned whether this was something natural: "Strange bandages on the hands. Unusual increases in aggressiveness. Players who were injured every week, playing every three days without problems...
Unexpected performance improvements. In a few years, we'll know what illegality Barça committed." This type of statement, now on the payroll of the public TV that all Spaniards pay for.
It is clear that only this way can Real Madrid be beaten. Barça and Arsenal, which should also be included in this section.
Buyo, the Useful Pawn Who Joins the Game
More: "I've been saying this for a while. The reasons and the consequences. Anti-doping in Spain is a joke." "And it's also an organized gang."
And more: "Every day this miserable, filthy, and mafia-like Negreira League is more shameful. @FCBarcelona_es is a corrupt institution just like @CTARFEF. It would be more honest to win by Royal Decree."
And others, like the former goalkeeper Paco Buyo, who hears bells and doesn't know where the wind is coming from in his role as a useful pawn for whatever is needed. Buyo lends himself to collaborate with the defamatory cause, but without calling things by their name. If he had any proof, he would probably do it.
"It's a team whose players this season are running twice as much as last season. Some have undergone a great physical transformation. From being skinny, they are now Rambos," he said on El Chiringuito.
Supreme Ignorance
And on X, he stated: "Isn't anyone in the League going to investigate, or do they see it as normal that half of Barça's players wear that bandage as if they were boxers?" What else can be investigated if Paco Buyo is not talking about doping?
The controversy arises because in some matches, players like Lamine Yamal or Raphinha, Pablo Torre, Lewandowski, or Gavi have appeared with a bandaged wrist, just like Karim Benzema did out of superstition, as he himself clarified.
The truth is that if Benzema puts a bandage on his wrist without being injured, it's the most normal thing in the world. If Lamine Yamal does it, speculation skyrockets, and supreme ignorance finds there the reason why Barça is sweeping Spain and Europe.