LONDON, Oct 8: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo duelled to an entertaining stalemate in the El Clasico, Zlatan Ibrahimovic starred in the Le Classique while Inter Milan won an absorbing Milan derby on Sunday.

Messi and Ronaldo both scored twice as Barcelona and Real Madrid drew 2-2 which kept the Catalan giants eight points ahead of their arch-rivals in La Liga, Ibrahimovic also struck twice as Paris Saint-Germain drew 2-2 at bitter rivals Olympique Marseille in Ligue 1 and ten-man Inter hung on to beat cross-town rivals AC Milan 1-0 in their 157th Serie A derby.

In front of almost 100,000 fans packed into an electric Nou Camp, Ronaldo put Real ahead in the 23rd minute from a pass by Karim Benzema but Messi responded eight minutes later after a defensive lapse by Pepe.

The Argentine World Player of the Year curled in a stunning free kick just after the hour to make it 2-1 but Ronaldo responded five minutes later when Mesut Ozil slid the ball through to the Portuguese forward who beat Victor Valdes with a powerful low strike.

The result ended Barcelona’s perfect start to the league campaign as they dropped points for the first time in seven games, but provided yet another memorable chapter in the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo, two of the biggest names in the sport.    “It should be prohibited to say which is the best in the world,” Real coach Jose Mourinho said. “They are both from another planet!”

Barca have 19 points from seven games, level with Atletico Madrid, who snatched a last-gasp 2-1 win at home to third-placed Malaga at the Calderon in Sunday’s late kick-off after Radamel Falcao scored a pair of goals.

Marseille kept hold of first place in the French league after Andre-Pierre Gignac matched Ibrahimovic goal for goal to keep his side three points clear of PSG at the top of the table on 19 points.

Ibrahimovic was on target twice in three minutes midway through an entertaining first-half at Stade Velodrome after Gignac’s solo effort had put the home side ahead in the 17th.

The Swede equalised on 23 minutes with a stunning back-heel volley from a corner then put PSG in front two minutes later when he fired a free kick home from 25 metres before Gignac answered in the 37th when he headed home a Benoit Cheyrou corner.

“After the second goal, we could have won. We were on top, but after that, we weren’t in control of the match,” said PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti. “We didn’t play a great match. There was nothing exceptional.”

Earlier on Sunday, third-placed Olympique Lyon missed the chance to keep the pressure on the top two when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Lorient, and sit one point behind PSG on 15 points.

Inter prevailed in a heated atmosphere at the San Siro thanks to a diving header from Argentinian Walter Samuel in the third minute following a howler from goalkeeper Christian Abbiati as the Nerazzurri’s quick start seemed to surprise Milan.

Milan created far more chances and were in almost total control after Inter had midfielder Yuto Nagatomo sent off for a second bookable offence three minutes into the second-half.

“There were two good points tonight, one was the way we approached this game and the second was how we handled it when we were a man down for the second half,” said Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni.

The defeat left Milan with only seven points from their first seven league games of the season. Inter have 15, four behind leaders Juventus and Napoli who both won.

A late goal by Claudio Marchisio gave Juventus a 2-1 win at lowly Siena and Napoli beat Udinese by the same score with Goran Pandev scoring the winner while Miroslav Klose kept Lazio, joint-third with Inter, in contention with a double strike in a 3-0 win over Pescara.

In Germany, Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund lost ground in their title defence, conceding an 85th minute equaliser at Hanover 96 in their 1-1 draw to drop nine points behind race leaders Bayern Munich.

Hanover substitute Mame Diouf scored five minutes from time as Dortmund, who had scored with Robert Lewandowski, dropped to fourth on 12 points.

Second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt suffered their first league defeat of the season after going down to a shock 2-0 loss at Borussia Moenchengladbach to stay five points behind Bayern while Bayer Leverkusen finish the weekend sixth in the table after a 2-2 draw at Stuttgart.—Agencies