First trophy of the season?

Real Madrid missed the opportunity to overtake Barcelona at the top of La Liga after being held to a draw by Rayo Vallecano, leaving them one point behind (37 compared to 38) and level on points with Barcelona having played 17 games. Barcelona are scheduled to play Leganes at 3 AM on December 16th; a win would increase the gap for Hansi Flick's team.

Real Madrid are highly likely to win their first trophy of the season on December 19th.

Real Madrid coach Ancelotti remained pleased. He said: "We are on the right track and I am happy. We played well tonight. The draw against Rayo Vallecano wasn't as bad as the matches against Las Palmas or Mallorca (both 1-1 draws). This game was better."

In their away match against Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid played without star Kylian Mbappe. Striker Vinicius was on the bench, only coming on in the 60th minute. The goalscorers for Real Madrid were Valverde, Jude Bellingham, and Rodrygo. Rayo Vallecano opened the scoring in the 4th minute, creating a spectacular comeback with goals from Lopez, Mumin, and Palazon.

Following their draw against Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid will immediately fly to Qatar to prepare for the Intercontinental Cup final against Mexican club Pachuca, who defeated Al Ahly (Egypt) in the Challenger Cup 6-5 on penalties (0-0 draw in regular time).

This is the first time in history that a team from Mexico has faced Real Madrid in an official competition. Historically, Pachuca FC has never met Real Madrid in any official or unofficial competition.

Pachuca won the Challenger Cup to face Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, in their history of matches against teams in Mexico, Real Madrid have faced them 18 times. Notably, in the four encounters between 2001 and 2011, the Bernabeu team only lost once (0-1 against Pumas). They won the remaining matches against Cruz Azul 3-1 on penalties (1-1 draw in regular time), against Club America 3-2, and against Guadalajara 3-0.

Therefore, against a not-so-strong Pachuca side, Real Madrid will most likely travel to the Lusail Stadium in Qatar at 00:00 on December 19th and complete this final match convincingly, leaving with their first championship trophy of the season.

According to coach Ancelotti, striker Mbappe will have recovered from his injury in time for this match and will return to the pitch where he played exceptionally well in the 2022 World Cup final, but ultimately France lost to Messi's Argentina in a penalty shootout 2-4 (3-3 draw in regular time).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/real-madrid-gap-doi-thu-dac-biet-tai-intercontinental-cup-doat-cup-dau-tien-cua-mua-giai-185241215085710407.htm