"Caffeine and other substances" is a hilarious euphemism
they're not taking any caffeine at all, it's all the "other substances." If they are bringing in experts from cycling in the Premier League too now (they have been in La Liga and Serie A for literally decades, since the '90s at least), then they would be using things listed here:
Products . Statistics . Dopeology
Blood transfusions would be the wave, I'd bet. They don't test for it in football at all, so not only are we talking about something immensely powerful, it's also undetectable.
What you do is:
This way you've got an extra half-litre or litre of blood pumping through your veins on match day than is physically possible for a human under natural circumstances. It makes you a superman.
The classic example of blood doping in football would be, I think, the Bayern Munich - Barcelona Champions League match last season, you know, the 8-2. It's not the scoreline that blew me away, it was the pressing Bayern showed. It was unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. 3-4 attackers charging at the Barcelona goalkeeper, full sprint, for the whole 90 minutes. I've never seen that before by any team. You might send one guy per opponent to press the goalkeeper and the defenders, at a jog. The occasional sprint. But half the team charging all at once at just one opponent, and sustaining that level for the whole 90? It's physically impossible, unless you've got a litre or more extra blood in your veins than the Barcelona players do.
They were doing this, every single one of them, as a coherent unit, for 90 minutes without a pause
