Inter Milan resume their quest to recover from their Champions League final hammering at the hands of PSG last month as they take on Urawa Reds of Japan.
Inter are coming into this game off the back of a fairly disappointing 1-1 draw with Mexican side Monterrey in their Club World Cup opener. The Serie A side fell behind after just 25 to an exquisite header from the illustrious Sergio Ramos, before Lautaro Martinez equalised for Inter on the stroke of half-time.
There would no be no further goals from there, and Inter will be frustrated with their inability to carve many openings for themselves, despite having over 60% of the possession, with the visitors managing only one shot on target.
This clash was new manager Cristian Chivu's first game in charge, and while it's far too early to be drawing any conclusions about his appointment, he'll want to start picking up fairly quickly in order to assuage the many initial doubts surrounding his appointment. Chivu has huge shoes to fill following Simone Inzaghi's departure, and the pressure will soon mount if the wins don't start to flow in.
Young Italian striker Sebastiano Esposito made his first start upon returning to the club after a successful loan spell at Empoli, while new signing Petar Sucic made his debut off the bench. This ageing Inter outfit are in dire need of a fresh injection of youth into the side, so they'll hope that the pair can prove their worth over the course of this tournament.
Urawa Reds began their Club World Cup campaign with a 3-1 defeat to River Plate of Argentina. The Japanese side fell 2-0 down to the Argentine side before Yusuke Matsuo pulled a goal back from the spot. However, River Plate restored their two-goal advantage on 73 minutes and saw out the game to condemn Urawa to an opening game loss. Despite the defeat, it was an encouraging performance from an Urawa side that were not short of spirit and competitiveness, with River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo describing them as a "physical, fast and dynamic team".
The Japanese side are short of where they expect themselves to be domestically, where they sit 4th in the league table. They're too far off the pace, but they sit seven points behind leaders Kashima Antlers having played a game more, so their title hopes are looking unlikely as things stand.
Regardless of the positives from their opening game, Urawa are in a position where they need to get something from this game to stand a chance of going through. They'll take heart from Inter's struggles against Monterrey and will fancy that they can cause an upset, but it'll take a huge performance from them to pull that off.
Inter 2-0 Urawa Reds
