Inter concedes goal from Sergio Ramos and draws in game with Brazilian referee

Italians against heat and defense . The game started in the Rose Bowl under intense heat, and Inter used the ball as a trump card to try to overcome the Mexican barrier: with more than 70% possession, the team led by debutant Cristian Chivu even tried triangulations, but were stopped by a line of five attentive defenders. There were three European offsides in 20 minutes.

Darmian misses and Sergio Ramos scores . Inter only managed to cause any danger in the 22nd minute, when Darmian blocked a shot from the edge of the area, and was punished almost immediately after the next play. In a corner that came from a counterattack finished by Ocampos, Torres took the perfect shot for Sergio Ramos, who jumped higher than anyone else and beat Sommer: 1-0.

Inter rests, hammers and ties . The goal forced the Italian team to expose itself, and the plays that had been blocked by the defense until then began to reach the opposing goalkeeper — Esposito, for example, offered a "tasting" with a point-blank shot before the water break. The break, in fact, gave more energy to the Champions League runners-up, who scored with a rehearsed free kick: Asllani passed the ball to Carlos Augusto, and the Brazilian touched it first time into the middle. Lautaro Martínez, free, only had to tap it into the back of the net: 1-1.

Double Mexican wall . A curious incident marked the final minutes of the first half. Faced with a foul already inside the half-moon area for Inter, Andrada opted to set up a kind of double wall, with four players on each side and a "gap" of about two meters in the middle. Positioned between the blocks, Monterrey's number 1 saw his strategy work: the shot hit one of his defenders.