Continuing the trend seen since the start of the Club World Cup, Inter Milan were yet another European side to run into trouble during the first round of the FIFA tournament in the USA and almost fell to Liga MX side Monterrey, who made a very good start with a 1-1 draw at the Rose Bowl.
Inter Milan took the offensive initiative and sought to leave the Mexicans pinned back in order to put the opposition under pressure by controlling the midfield. There was a dominance of possession and a debut that looked promising for coach Christian Chivu, but Monterrey proved fatal in the 25th minute when they had their first real chance on goal and opened the scoring thanks to veteran Sergio Ramos, who positioned himself perfectly after a corner kick to beat goalkeeper Sommer.
Despite conceding the goal, Inter continued to dictate the tempo of the first half and equalized just before the break thanks to a well-rehearsed free-kick. When everyone expected a direct free-kick from close range, Asllani lifted the ball to Carlos Augusto on the right, and the Brazilian took a simple touch for Lautaro to equalize with ease.
The Italians tried to pick up the pace at the start of the second half and came close to scoring with Bastani, Barella and Lautaro Martínez being the main players. However, Inter failed to score this time, and Monterrey took advantage of the Italians' physical fatigue to exploit spaces on the counter-attacks and up the pressure in the final minutes.
The end of the match was very well contested with chances for both sides, but it was Monterrey who came closest to victory when Deossa took a 1v1 against Sommer and had the chance to score the winner, but his shot went into the net off side and the match ended 1-1.
UEFA fails to stand out on the world stage
The Europeans have yet to be beaten in this Club World Cup, but it's quite remarkable how Conmebol and Concacaf teams are managing to rival UEFA teams at the start of the Club World Cup. This is a justification that goes far beyond tiredness.