Lionel Messi and Inter Miami were held to a scoreless draw against Egypt's Al Ahly in the opening game of the Club World Cup on Saturday night.
2025 Club World Cup
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Match Reports
Fans showed up en masse for the Group A clash at Hard Rock Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins, but Messi could not fully deliver, his best chance coming through a last-second attempt that was deflected onto the crossbar.
Inter Miami next face FC Porto on Thursday in Atlanta while Al Ahly, who benefited from raucous, massive support, will take on Palmeiras in New York, where more of their fans are expected to turn up.
"I think happy with the performance, much better in the second half," Miami head coach Javier Mascherano told DAZN. "In the second half, I think we created chances, we controlled the game and we had the chances to score and win the game
"Maybe in the first half we were excited, we were nervous, we didn't move the ball from one side to the other. So we tried to translate to the players to be calm, we have to keep possession, we can find the spaces to attack better."
In Miami, 60,927 fans almost filled the 65,000-capacity stadium for Inter Miami's clash with Al Ahly dismissing, at least on the night, concerns about the attractiveness of the tournament featuring 32 teams for the first time, a year before the World Cup is co-hosted by the U.S.
Match Events
0' The Club World Cup opening ceremony is underway & match will begin shortly
0' Match Event for El Ahly Cairo vs Inter Miami CF
5' Abou Ali misses the chance Ustari denies his close range shot
7' Ustari denies another effort from El Ahly Cairo
13' Ashour is replaced by Zizo because of injury
14' Messi's free-kick goes wide to the left
22' El Ahly Cairo's attempt from the right side of the box is wide
26' Highlight from El Ahly Cairo vs Inter Miami CF
27' Ian Fray's long range shot is just high
31' Abou Ali scores but it is ruled offside
34' Ustari palms out El Ahly Cairo's close range header
35' Messi is brought down by the defender after his effort is cleared out
43' What a performance! Trezeguet's penalty is denied by Ustari
46' Messi directly shots from the corner but it is saved
47' Suarez delivers a cross targeting the far corner but it is cleared by defender
51' El Ahly Cairo almost make a mistake but Allende's shot is saved
58' Trezeguet's low shot from outside the box is saved by the keeper
64' Messi's free-kick effort is just wide
75' Messi is brought down by the defender but the ref takes no action
85' Messi's cross finds Picault but his header is saved by the keeper
94' Highlight from El Ahly Cairo vs Inter Miami CF
96' Match Event for El Ahly Cairo vs Inter Miami CF
Line-ups
El Ahly Cairo XI: Mohamed El Shenawy, Trezeguet, Yasser Ibrahim, Mohamed Hany, Hamdy Fathy, Wessam Abou Ali, Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane, Emam Ashour, Achraf Dari, Marwan Ateya, Ahmed Kouka
Subs: Omar Kamal, Zizo, Taher Mohamed, Achraf Bencharki, Aliou Dieng, Hussein El Shahat, Ahmed Ramadan, Afsha, Oufa Shobeir, Yahia Attiyat Allah, Khaled Abdelfattah, Nejc Gradisar, Karim El Debes, Mostafa El Aash, Ahmed Reda
Inter Miami CF XI: Óscar Ustari, Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Maximiliano Falcón, Telasco Segovia, Tadeo Allende, Ian Fray, Noah Allen, Federico Redondo, Tomás Avilés
Subs: William Yarbrough, Fafà Picault, Marcelo Weigandt, Rocco Ríos Novo, Ryan Sailor, Baltasar Rodríguez, Allen Obando, Benja Cremaschi, Santiago Morales, Leo Afonso