It’s a big day ahead for French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe. In the second semifinal match of the Club World Cup on Wednesday, the 26-year-old will cross paths with his former club as Real Madrid takes on PSG at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. However, even before he got to set foot on the pitch, the forward had to tackle a different kind of aerial challenge, and not thanks to any of his on-field opponents.

“We’re delighted to be in the semi-finals, but we want more,” Real Madrid star Aurelien Tchouameni told RM Play ahead of the team’s clash against the French heavyweights. But little did he know, Los Blancos would have to face more than PSG’s razor-sharp attacking in order to advance to the CWC finals. And all of that even before the match began!

A social media update by Madrid Zone on X on July 8 shared the ordeal the Real Madrid squad had to face en route to East Rutherford for its match slated for later on the same day. The New York area has received a tornado warning, which caused issues with the Spanish team’s travel plans. “Real Madrid’s plane has been circling around New York for over an hour, and they still haven’t received the green light to land,” the X post notes, while also mentioning that the storm was getting worse.

However, it wasn’t like Real Madrid only had to deal with landing problems. The team set up its CWC training camp in Palm Beach, Florida, which was also facing its own weather troubles, thanks to a tropical storm on Tuesday. Because of that, the squad’s flight back to New Jersey was also delayed by one hour.

Thankfully, though, Real Madrid’s woes weren’t suffered in vain. FIFA quickly took notice of the situation and helped the flight to land at the Newark airport, as per an X update by Madrid Xtra. However, the post also noted that the flight was two hours late arriving. But understandably, despite finally reaching the destination, the Los Blancos’ soccer stars were battered and even made an official request to FIFA for a schedule cancellation.

Ahead of the clash against PSG, Real Madrid cancelled both head coach Xabi Alonso’s press conference as well as the mixed one for the players to help the squad recuperate from the whole ordeal. “Real is still in a situation where it is uncertain whether Coach Alonso, along with Thibaut Courtois, Federico Valverde, and Jacobo Ramon, will be able to appear in official events,” an official statement by the team explained the situation.

But at least the match seems to be still on, and Real Madrid needs to pull up its socks ASAP.

A tough climb ahead for Real Madrid, problems for PSG as well

The MetLife Stadium can host up to 80,000 spectators. Obviously, it can be expected that both teams will bring their A-games to the high-stakes match. Dating back to 2014, Real Madrid has never lost a single match at the Club World Cup. While the team started off with a draw against Al-Hilal in this year’s competition, they have won every single match since. But PSG isn’t a team you should discount, either.

The Parisian team comes off a thunderous victory at the UEFA Champions League, and is poised as the team most likely to win the ongoing FIFA tournament being hosted by the USA. On the other hand, Real Madrid once again reached the quarterfinals of the tournament after trampling over Atletico Madrid before being eliminated themselves by Arsenal. Moreover, as far as Europe’s top five leagues are concerned, only Barcelona scored more goals (174) than Luis Enrique’s side (152) since the start of the 2024-25 season. In fact, PSG have recorded the most expected goals (xG)—145.6—among teams from Europe’s top five leagues. Meanwhile, Madrid seems to be on the back foot already.

Defender Dean Huijsen was sent off during Real Madrid’s quarterfinal match against Borussia Dortmund, which means that he will have to watch Tuesday’s big match from the sidelines. But that doesn’t mean the Parisian side is without its own problems. Both Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez were sent off in Madrid’s 2-0 quarter-final win over Bayern Munich and have been handed two-match suspensions for their actions.

Who do you think will go on to face Chelsea, who booked their slot in the final thanks to the exploits of Joao Pedro. Share your score predictions for the game in the comments.