Real Madrid en route to Abu Dhabi in special livery Emirates A380

Gareth Bale, Luca Modric and the rest of the team on special chartered flight into UAE capital's airport

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Talk about a match day special.

Real Madrid are on their way to Abu Dhabi to defend their Club World Cup title on a special livery Emirates A380.

It's a rare occurrence for an Emirates plane to make a scheduled landing at Abu Dhabi International Airport. Even flights diverted for emergencies and bad weather are usually directed to Dubai World Central.

For plane spotters, the special flight lands just before 7.15pm UAE time.

Real Madrid's special flight on Flightradar24.
Real Madrid's special flight on Flightradar24.

The bespoke decals featuring Gareth Bale, Luca Modric, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema was unveiled on Saturday.

Members of the team shared selfies before take off and on board the flight.

Here's a video of how the transformation takes place in a special hangar.

The decal will remain on the aircraft for six months and fans can catch the jet as it travels around the world with scheduled services planned to Washington, Nice, Mauritius, London Gatwick and Sao Paulo.

Emirates has been the official main sponsor of Real Madrid since 2013 with Fly Emirates branding prominently displayed on the players’ kits and at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The European champions will play Japan's Kashima Antlers, the Asian champions on Wednesday.

They announced their 25-man squad shortly before departure.

Al Ain, who defeated Africa's Esperance on Saturday night, play South America's River Plate in the other semi-final on Tuesday.

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