Online Reporter
VETERAN defender Sergio Ramos scored as Monterrey held Champions League football runners-up Inter Milan to a 1-1 draw at the Club World Cup in California on Tuesday night.
The Mexican side opened the scoring when the 39-year-old Ramos, who won the competition four times with Real Madrid, powered a header in from a corner in the 25th minute.
Inter, playing their first game since they were thrashed 5-0 by Paris St-Germain in last month’s Champions League final, levelled just before the break as Lautaro Martinez tapped home from close range.
Nelson Deossa came agonisingly close to scoring a winner for Monterrey in stoppage time but he planted his strike into the side netting.
It was Cristian Chivu’s debut as Inter manager after succeeding Simone Inzaghi, who parted company with the club “by mutual consent” three days after the final.
Over half the seats at the 89 702-capacity Rose Bowl Stadium were left empty, with 40 311 spectators in attendance.
Elsewhere, Mamelodi Sundowns’ 1-0 win over South Korea’s Ulsan HD was watched by just 3 412 fans – the lowest attendance of the tournament so far.
Kick-off at the largely empty Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando was delayed by more than an hour because of a weather warning, with referee Clement Turpin ordering players off the pitch just before the scheduled 6pm local time start. – BBC Sport/Sports Reporter
