The players and Real Madrid's chief doctor are back on the warpath.

The club has a serious problem on its hands because of the friction between their head of medical services, Doctor Jesús Olmo, and the vast majority of the first-team players. A fire is raging, perhaps unsurprisingly after the club's decision at the beginning of the summer to grant sweeping powers to a man who doesn't have the squad's backing.

This development did not go down well with the players, who were adamant that they wouldn't take it lying down. The way they saw it, they had lost the battle but not the war. Rumours of a backlash had been simmering ever since and now one has arrived. The stars may not call the shots at boardroom level, but they are in charge in the dressing room. As such, they have resolved to bar the doctor from their sanctum: what started out as a mere idea soon gathered force and became a full-blown referendum, the result of which is that as far as the players are concerned, Olmo will not be allowed to so much as set foot in the changing rooms again.

Urged on by the squad as a whole, club captain Sergio Ramos was tasked with canvassing the players' opinions on the matter, one by one. The verdict was overwhelming: except for one or two exceptions, the group unanimously voted in favour of slamming the door in Olmo's face. The next step will see Ramos go to Real Madrid CEO José Ángel Sánchez with the petition.

This is just the latest chapter in the ongoing beef between the players and the club's chief doctor, which has given the Bernabéu higher-ups a fair few headaches in the past and now looks like doing so again.