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Sergio Ramos gives Inter a scare in Club World Cup stalemate
THE 39-YEAR-OLD Spanish great Sergio Ramos scored as Monterrey held Inter Milan 1-1 in a hard-fought Fifa Club World Cup Group E opener in Pasadena on Tuesday.
Argentine striker Lautaro Martinez scored a well-worked equaliser to cancel out Ramos's opener for the Mexican side in front of 40,311 fans at the Rose Bowl.
Inter, playing their first game since being thrashed 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, were left ruing their failure to turn their dominance of possession and territory into goals.
But the draw was a boost for Ramos and Monterrey, who face Argentina's River Plate in their next game on Saturday.
Inter coach Cristian Chivu said his team had struggled to break down a Monterrey team who sat deep for long periods.
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'We played well in the first half even though we went behind,' Chivu said. 'We could have attacked better in the second half. It's not easy to play against a very low block.'
Chivu, in his first match in charge after the departure of Simone Inzaghi, denied the Champions League finalists had underestimated the Mexicans.
'We respect every team we play and we knew what kind of team they were, we tried to do our best,' he said.
The Italians were in complete control almost from the kick-off, yet despite the early onslaught, Inter were rocked in the 25th minute when Monterrey scored from one of their few forays into the Italians' half.
Midfielder Oliver Torres swung a corner in from the right and Ramos — who had lost Francesco Acerbi on the edge of the six-yard box — steered his header into the bottom corner.
Inter drew level on 39 minutes with a wonderfully worked free-kick routine.
Albanian international Kristjan Asllani shaped to shoot from 25 yards out but instead flighted a delicate chip behind the Monterrey defence.
Brazilian international Carlos Augusto timed his run to perfection and squared into the path of Martinez, who tapped in for 1-1.
Meanwhile, Mamelodi Sundowns got off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory over South Korean side Ulsan HD on Tuesday in a match delayed by a weather warning and played before largely empty stands.
The South African side went top of Group F in front of a crowd given as 3,412 after Borussia Dortmund and Fluminense drew 0-0 earlier.
A weather warning pushed back kick-off by just over an hour for one of the less enticing group clashes in the expanded FIFA tournament, which has so far not succeeded in filling grounds for every match.
– © AFP 2025
