Monterrey – Inter

The Mexican team is well placed to put up a fight against Inter

There is a clear favourite in Group E before the start of the Club World Cup. In late May, Italy's Inter played in the European Champions League final, where they were mercilessly defeated by PSG. In the same quartet as River Plate, Urawa and Monterrey, the Milan squad looks like a dominant force, but in international competitions this thesis should always be proven with diligent work. Inter have one important factor in common with their first opponent in the tournament - experience. Of the 32 clubs in the ECM, Monterrey are third in terms of the average age of their players, Inter are fifth. It should be recalled that the Italians will play at the Club World Cup as the fourth best available team in the UEFA coefficient ranking in 4 years. Internationale have already won the Club World Cup once in their history - in 2010. Monterrey will take part in the Club World Cup as the winner of the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. This will be the Mexican club's sixth start in the Club World Cup. Monterrey have previously reached the quarter-finals three times and won the third place twice. Bookmakers expectedly identified the nominal guests as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.58 on their victory. Monterrey, despite an experienced squad, the last few years have not grabbed the stars from the sky. The Mexican team made it to the Clausura playoffs in the spring, finishing in last place, but were immediately eliminated by Toluca in the quarter-finals. Despite the fact that Toluca later won the Clausura, the glorious club has nothing to be proud of. In the CONCACAF Champions League Monterrey produced roughly the same result, being eliminated in the 1/8 finals by eventual runners-up Vancouver. Inter started the season as Italian champions and nurtured very serious ambitions until the second half of the spring in all three tournaments with their participation. However, Inter failed everywhere. In the Italian Cup the team lost at the semi-final stage to fellow countrymen from Milan, lost the championship title to Napoli, fighting for it until the last round, and in the final of the Champions League failed to oppose PSG. Given that the roles of the opponents in the upcoming match are clear, it is unlikely to expect a goal extravaganza from the experienced teams.