Real Madrid - Al-Hilal (1-1): Without Mbappé, the Merengue are harmless and held for Xabi Alonso's first game

In the 32-degree heat of Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, Saudi club Al-Hilal pulled off the first upset of the start of the Club World Cup by drawing with Real Madrid (1-1). But the result wasn't all that surprising, given the Madrid side's poor performance.

Xabi Alonso's debut on the bench was highly anticipated. But it was ultimately Simone Inzaghi, who left Europe after a humiliation in the Champions League final with Inter Milan against PSG (5-0), who made his debut with Al-Hilal.

Deprived of Kylian Mbappé, who missed Tuesday's training session with a fever , Xabi Alonso opted to field his two defensive recruits, Trent Alexander-Arnold (ex-Liverpool) at right-back and Dean Huijsen (ex-Bournemouth) in the centre.

If the young (21 years old) Gonzalo Garcia, who is coming off a 25-goal season with Castilla (Real's reserve team) opened the scoring, it was against the run of play (1-0, 33rd).

While Real Madrid were disappointing, the Saudi team were more appealing. Portuguese Ruben Neves' penalty equalizer rewarded Al-Hilal's excellent first half (1-1, 41st minute).

Right after the restart, it was goalkeeper Yassine Bouno who stood out. After Arda Güler hit his crossbar, the Moroccan national team goalkeeper made a huge save from Gonzalo Garcia's close-range header (46th minute).

Real Madrid dominated the end of the match, but Al-Hilal held firm. The 84th-minute substitution of Luka Modric, who is playing his final games for Real Madrid at this Club World Cup, was met with great emotion.