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IN PICTURES: Bara and Atleti play out draw, Madrid held

Sport360 staff 01:45 22/09/2016
Barca and Atleti draw as Bayern, United and City record wins.

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid had to settle for a share of the spoils after a draw which will be warmly welcomed by leaders Real Madrid.

Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring with a glancing header shortly before the break, but Atletico bounced back when substitute Angel Correa levelled with his first touch.

There was concern at full-time for Lionel Messi, though, as the Argentine, who’s only just recovered from a groin injury, pulled up just before the hour mark and had to be substituted. He then spent the remainder of the game sat on the bench with an icepack strapped to his right thigh.

Real Madrid’s record-equalling 16-game La Liga win streak came to an end as Villarreal held out for a draw at the Bernabeu.

Madrid were looking to surpass the Liga mark of 16 wins first set by Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2010/11, but were made to pay for a sluggish first-half display.

Bruno Soriano put the visitors in front from the penalty spot just before half-time before Sergio Ramos levelled after the break. But Real couldn’t find a winner as the returning Gareth Bale was substituted and Cristiano Ronaldo frustrated throughout.

In Germany, Carlo Ancelotti became the first coach to win his first seven games in charge of Bayern Munich with a 3-0 victory over Hertha Berlin taking the record champions clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

Franck Ribery set them on their way in the 16th minute before two goals in four minutes from Thiago Alcantara and the returning Arjen Robben sealed a triumph which also ended Hertha’s 100 per cent start to the season

Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United ended a three-match losing streak and reached the EFL Cup fourth round with a timely, if at times uncomfortable, 3-1 win at League One Northampton.

Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford were all on the scoresheet for the Red Devils who started only Chris Smalling and Wayne Rooney of the side who lost to Watford last weekend.

Manchester City recorded their ninth successive win under Pep Guardiola by seeing off Swansea 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium.

Captain Vincent Kompany played for the first time since a thigh injury suffered in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid in early May, but he went off in the dying seconds as second-half goals by Gael Clichy and Aleix Garcia proved enough. Gylfi Sigurdsson added a late consolation for the Swans.

Vincent Janssen, meanwhile, showed there may be life after Harry Kane as the stand-in striker scored his first Tottenham goal in a 5-0 romp over Gillingham.

Janssen opened his account from the penalty spot after a Christian Eriksen double, before Joshua Onomah and Erik Lamela completed the rout.

Controversial star Mario Balotelli continued his fine start to life on the French Riviera by helping fire Nice to the top of Ligue 1.

The Italy international scored his second brace in as many league appearances for Nice in a 4-0 thumping of local rivals Monaco to leap-frog champions Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table.

The 26-year-old now has four goals in three games since he joined the Cote d’Azur outfit on a free transfer from Liverpool.

Elsewhere, Gonzalo Higuain returned to scoring ways as champions Juventus regained top spot from misfiring Napoli thanks to a 4-0 rout of outclassed Cagliari in Turin.

Higuain, signed from Napoli for an Italian record €90m, had failed to find the net in Juve’s past two outings. But the Argentine striker quashed any emerging doubts about his talents with his fourth goal of the season just after the half hour after defender Daniele Rugani had given Juve a 14th minute lead.

Dani Alves, signed during the close season from Barcelona, hit Juve’s third minutes before the interval and Mario Lemina saw his drive turned into the Cagliari net by Luca Ceppitelli in the closing minutes.

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