FIFA Intercontinental Cup Prediction and Match Odds: Real Madrid vs Pachuca

Real Madrid in Pursuit of More Trophies

Champions League winners Real Madrid will look to add another trophy to their cabinet on Wednesday in the Intercontinental Cup Final. After this weekend’s results, Real Madrid have fallen to third in La Liga, and it’s been a very inconsistent season for Carlo Ancelotti’s side thus far.

On Saturday, Madrid traveled to the Estadio de Vallecas for a meeting with 13th-placed Rayo Vallecano. Without the injured Kylian Mbappe in the lineup, they fell behind 2-0 before fighting back for an eventual 3-3 draw. That leaves them one point behind both second-place Atletico Madrid and also first-placed Barcelona.

Mbappe has yet to fully acclimate to his new side and Madrid have dealt with numerous injuries. The French star himself himself was added to the injury report going out with a left thigh injury versus Atalanta in the Champions League last week.

With a timeframe of seven days for the injury, he could be a game-time decision for this match but has travelled with the team and returned to training.

''CAMAVINGA WILL BE AVAILABLE TOMORROW''
🚨🎙️ The Mister's pre-match press conference:
🚨🎙️ Reporter: How are Mbappé and Camavinga doing?
🚨🎙️ Carlo Ancelotti: "Kylian's injury is not serious. He won't be with us tomorrow, but he will travel to Qatar, and we will assess his sit… pic.twitter.com/oGDRNFCW4V

— Football for Life (@footballdtlife) December 15, 2024

It was a game in which the French international scored and Real Madrid won 3-2, but Madrid has not been particularly strong in this new-look Champions League format. Coming into Matchday 6 they were sitting in the final playoff spot in 24th position and despite the win, a record of 3-0-3 still sees them just 20th overall in the 36-team field.

Still, Madrid is 11-4-2 in La Liga and they are deserving favorites for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup prediction. They have lost only five of their last 50 games in all competitions. However, all five have come in their past 15 where they’re just 8-2-5.

Pachuca Targets Intercontinental Cup Upset

Pachuca may be in the 2024 Intercontinental Cup by virtue of being CONCACAF Champions Cup winners, but that likely feels like a lifetime ago for manager Guillermo Almada. It was not a good season in the Liga MX Apertura for Pachuca. Los Tuzos finished well out of the playoff spots in 16th at 3-4-10 and outscored 29-20 on the season.

Since beating the Columbus Crew of MLS in the Champions Cup Final in June, Pachuca has only seen victory in six of their last 22 matches. However, two of those wins have come in their past two games, both in the Intercontinental Cup.

Los Tuzos entered in the second round and met Copa Libertadores champs Botafogo from Brazil. Despite holding just 33-percent possession, goals from Oussama Idrissi, Nelson Deossa and Salomon Rondon saw Pachuca cruise to a 3-0 victory.

In the semifinals they met Al Ahly in a match that went the distance. After 90 minutes nothing was decided in a 0-0 draw and still no one could score with another 30 minutes of extra-time.

That sent the teams to penalties where Pachuca missed their first two penalties and looked to be on their way out. However, with Al Ahly missing their final two kicks themselves, it was decided in sudden death in the eighth round of spot kicks with Pachuca winning 6-5.