On Sunday, Real Madrid suffered a 1-0 defeat to RCD Mallorca in La Liga’s 20th round before heading off to Morocco for the FIFA Club World Cup.
The champions entered the game five points adrift of arch-rivals Barcelona, who currently lead the La Liga table with 50 points.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side were also without the services of Eder Militao as well as Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema due to minor injuries.
An early own goal by Nacho Fernandez was the difference as Real Madrid’s slip-up could see Barcelona open up an eight-point gap at the top of the league table.
Los Blancos will now turn their attention to the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco as they are set to face Cairo giants Al Ahly in the semi-finals on February 8th.
Al Ahly had earned a thumping 3-0 win over New Zealand’s Auckland City in their opening game of the tournament, thanks to goals from Hussein El-Shahat, Mohamed Sherif, and Percy Tau.
The Red Devils later managed a narrow 1-0 victory with Mohamed Magdy Afsha’s late deflected strike sending them to the semi-finals for the third consecutive year.
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