Real Madrid vs Pachuca

Having won almost every other trophy on offer, Real Madrid will tonight take on Mexican side Pachuca in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final in Qatar.

The championship is a renaming of the preceding FIFA Club World Cup, with Manchester City as the champions who won the title last December from Flamengo.

Since a shock 2-1 loss against Athletic Bilbao in domestic football on December 4, Real Madrid has recorded a three match running without defeat in La Liga and Champions League match in getting the aims of defending the title in both competitions back on track.

That is why sporting was only able to get a draw at the atonomous stadium of rayo vallecano on saturday evening, although valverde, bellingham and rodrygo’s efforts saw them clinching the win at the stadium in front of 14000 people.

Giving up points for the sixth time in the Spanish top flight, Real Madrid find themselves in third place overall in the Spanish La Liga soccer competition before their Christmas tour to the Middle East one point behind Spanish league leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in second place.

Turning briefly for the moment to the players, as mentioned, summer arrival Kylian Mbappe has not yet quite ignited the Santiago Bernabeu, possibly because he may feel just a little lost among all the other stars in Carlo Ancelotti’s fearsome Class of 2024-25.

Real Madrid are in Wednesday night’s final at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar because they won the Union of European Football Associations’ premier club competition at Wembley Stadium in June, with goals in the second half from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Jr to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the Champions League final match.

Pachuca's path to this week's Intercontinental Cup final has been more complicated; the Mexican team has already spent more than seven days in the Middle East, where they have battled back-to-back games against continental champions to secure their spot against European powerhouse Real Madrid.

Last Wednesday night, Tuzos easily defeated Botafogo, a Brazilian team that won the Copa Libertadores title for the first time in November, 3-0 at Stadium 974 in Doha thanks to goals from Oussama Idrissi, Nelson Deossa, and Salomon Rondon in the second half.

Goalie Carlos Moreno saved Khaled Abdelfattah's kick to win the match, and Pachuca secured their place in the Intercontinental Cup final with a penalty-shootout triumph over African champions Al Ahly on Saturday while Los Blancos fought away in Vallecano.

Before their successful performances on the continent last week, Tuzos had a dismal Liga MX Apertura campaign, finishing 16th in the 18-team division after winning just one of their previous eight top-tier games.

It should come as no surprise that Real Madrid and Pachuca will play their first-ever match at Lusail Stadium on Wednesday night. However, the two teams will likely become familiar rivals as they are both selected to play in Group H of the redesigned Club World Cup next summer, together with Al-Hilal and Red Bull Salzburg.

Real Madrid's Mbappe will be traveling with the team and may play at Lusail Stadium, according to the 24-man roster they announced on Monday for the trip to Qatar.

The Frenchman missed Saturday's draw against Rayo Vallecano due to a thigh injury he sustained during last week's Champions League victory over Atalanta BC.

Despite just returning to Real Madrid's training, David Alaba (knee) has not been chosen by Ancelotti for this week's match in Qatar.

Ferland Mendy, who is recovering from a muscular injury he suffered earlier this month, will remain in Spain while his teammates battle for intercontinental triumph in the Middle East.

Andres Micolta of Pachuca has been crucial in the last week after recovering from a thigh injury sustained in October, and he is expected to start in Wednesday's final.

Israel Luna, a defensive midfielder, is still out for Tuzos after suffering a cruciate ligament injury in April that ended his season.