The Falcon is in the prequels (twice?). It’s been around.
I must have missed it. Do you have photographic evidence?
It’s been said the Falcon is the ship seen in ROTS, (bottom pic) but as there are three such freighters seen in AOTC, they may just be similar ships.
I’m pretty sure some Legends book or other established the ship in ROTS as definitely the Falcon, but I don’t expect it to be addressed explicitly in the new canon.