When you have two of the greatest players in the world playing against each other for two of the best teams in the world, there is bound to be some fireworks.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi traded blows in a heavyweight contest of epic proportions as the duo scored two goals each in a 2-2 draw between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Camp Nou.
In an end-to-end game that had the pulses raising right from the first minute, Ronaldo scored, then Messi equalised, the Barcelona wonder made it 2-1, before the Portuguese superstar replied with his second, as Barca lost their perfect record for the season, but stayed eight points ahead of Real after seven games.
It was Real, who looked dangerous early on, and if they had taken their chances the away side would have been 3-0 up with under half an hour gone. The first opportunity fell to Sergio Ramos, but the Spanish international defender, unmarked inside the box, fired his close-range header off a corner just wide.
Real, however, took the lead soon after in the 23rd minute, with Ronaldo finishing off a brilliant flowing move, that Barcelona would have been extremely proud to produce. It all started with Ozil on the left, who then gave the ball to Marcelo, who in turn fed it to Sami Khedira. The German midfielder nicely picked out a pass to Karim Benzema, with the striker, feeding a perfect ball, on the turn, to Ronaldo, who made no mistake, firing a low left-footed strike past Victor Valdes at the near post.
Real were then guilty of missing another golden chance, this time Benzema the culprit. Ozil started the move yet again, with Angel Di Maris playing in Benzema, who was all alone in the box. The Frenchman, however, scuffed his shot with the goal at his mercy, and was lucky to see his shot even hit the post, with Di Maria failing to fire in the follow up.
Barcelona made Real pay for their misses, just past the half hour. Pepe made a hash of his clearance off Pedro Rodriguez's cross inside the box, and the ball fell kindly to Messi, who made absolutely no mistake.
If Real were the better side in the first half, Barcelona were more refined in the second - Messi, who was very much on the periphery in the first half, getting much more into the game.
After some long periods of possession, and a chance or two at each end, Xabi Alonso stopped one of Messi's trademark runs, just outside the penalty area, and off the ensuing free kick the reigning world player of the year, bent in an inch-perfect free kick, giving goalkeeper Iker Casillas absolutely no chance in the 61st minute.
Five minutes later though, Ronaldo, refusing to be outdone by his great rival, replied in devastating fashion. Escaping the offside trap, with makeshift center-back Adriano the culprit of not stepping up soon enough, the Portuguese latched onto a through ball from Ozil, making no mistake in placing the ball past Valdes.
Barcelona finished stronger, with Messi showing he is human after all, firing a left-footed strike wide, after he himself had created the chance making a run only he could have made.
Martin Montoya, who came on for Daniel Alves in the first half, had the chance to be the hero late on, but saw his brilliant strike from outside the box, agonizingly hit the crossbar, with Casillas well beaten.
Pedro then had another opportunity to make it 3-2 and give his side all three points, in the final kick of the game, after being put through by Iniesta, but the winger fired his left-footed shot just wide.
Both sides will be happy enough with the result, with plenty of the season still remaining.
