Overview
Real Madrid and Pachuca have not faced each other before December 2024. However, they are about to meet for the second time in about 6 months.
The Spanish giants won 3-0 in the Intercontinental Cup against Pachuca at the end of last year, with Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior scoring at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
The next encounter will take place in the second round of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup group stage. Both teams are looking to get their first win in this year's tournament.
Los Blancos were held to a 1-1 draw by Al-Hilal in their first game, despite Gonzalo Garcia taking them up at hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Ruben Neves' successful penalty helped Al-Hilal regain 1 point, in the context of Federico Valverde's poor shot late in the match.
Valverde's missed penalty means Real Madrid have only won 2 of their last 6 penalty kicks in all competitions (except for penalty shootouts), as of March this year.
That draw ended their run of 11 consecutive FIFA Club World Cup wins (including previous tournaments). This is the longest winning streak of any team in the history of the tournament.
This is also the first time Real Madrid have failed to win a FIFA Club World Cup match since 2000 (1-1 against Necaxa, 3-3 on penalties).
On the positive side, Garcia (21 years, 86 days) scored in his first appearance for the club. He is the fourth young player to do this for Real Madrid in all competitions since the 2009-10 season, after Jude Bellingham (20 years, 44 days), Marco Asensio (20 years, 201 days) and Dani Ceballos (21 years, 47 days).
Mbappe missed Madrid's opening match due to a fever, which eventually led to him being hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis. The club said in a statement that the French striker "will continue to receive specific medical treatment and gradually return to the team's activities". Therefore, the possibility of him participating in this match is not high.
Pachuca was beaten 2-1 by Salzburg in their opening game. Bryan Gonzalez equalizes for Mexico after Oscar Gloukh puts the Austrian ahead. However, Karim Onisiwo brought Salzburg a victory in the second half. And now, Pachuca need to beat Real Madrid to keep their fragile hopes of a further run alive.
Gonzalez's goal came from a direct free kick, the first direct free kick to score at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 after 14 performances.
Former West Bromwich Albion and Everton striker Salomon Rondon could be a threat to Madrid's relatively inexperienced centre-backs Raul Asencio and Dean Huijsen. The Venezuelan had four shots against Salzburg, the most in the game, including one against the post.
Predicting the result
Supercomputer Opta believes Real Madrid will win their first victory at this year's FIFA Club World Cup. They have a 78.3% chance of beating their opponents, while there is an 8.2% chance that Pachuca will create a seismic. The remaining 13.5% saw Madrid draw another match.
Despite sharing points with Al-Hilal, Real Madrid are still rated highest to continue in Group H with 88%. Meanwhile, Pachuca's figure is only 4.1%.
Score prediction: Real Madrid 4-0 Pachuca
The match between Real Madrid and Pachuca takes place at 2:00 am on June 23 (Vietnam time).
