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Mexican club Pachuca won the FIFA Challenger Cup game on penalties in Qatar on Saturday, beating Egyptian club Al Ahly 6-5 after extra time after a dour goalless draw, and will meet in the Intercontinental Cup next week -Final on Real Madrid.

Pachuca won the shootout after missing the first two penalties to become only the second CONCACAF team to reach the final of the competition against European champions Madrid, which will be played at the Lusail Stadium on Wednesday.

Neither team was able to score within 120 minutes and Pachuca struggled to create any real attacking threat after an exciting first half in which the Egyptians dominated possession.

Pachuca’s Carlos Moreno made several great saves to deny the Africans the lead, and despite adjustments and substitutions by both coaches, the game went into extra time and penalties.

Pachuca started the shootout poorly as Salomón Rondón’s shot was parried by Mohamed El-Shenawy and Borja Baston missed.

However, all was not lost as Mahmoud Kahraba’s shot was later parried by Moreno and Omar Kamal’s penalty went wide.

Faber Gil gave the Mexicans a 6-5 lead and nerves were on edge when Khaled Abdelfattah hit the crossbar to the dismay of the Egyptians.

“It was difficult, very complicated, especially because of the marathon game we played today,” said Pachuca coach Guillermo Almada. “We will try to get the players back on their feet and go into the game (final) with all their motivation.”

“Confidence is the last thing to die. We had confidence in our team, in the players who would score, in Carlos who became a star, he deserved it,” added midfielder Pedro Pedraza.

“We had an atypical tournament and he is the first who deserves it. Thanks to him we won the championship (CONCACAF Champions Cup).”

It will be the Mexican team’s fifth appearance in FIFA competition. Their best performance came at the 2017 Club World Cup when they finished third.

Champions League winners Real are the most successful Intercontinental Cup winners with five titles, followed by Barcelona, ​​Corinthians and Bayern Munich. Last year’s trophy went to Manchester City.