Barcelona gets 1-1 draw with Milan

Lionel Messi preserved Barcelona’s unbeaten start in the Champions League by equalizing in a 1-1 draw at AC Milan while Arsenal’s 100 percent record disappeared with a 2-1 home defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Tuesday’s other marquee match.

Atletico Madrid made it three wins in three thanks to a double from in-form striker Diego Costa in a 3-0 victory at Austria Vienna, leaving the Spanish side on the brink of the last 16 already to continue its brilliant start to the season.

Chelsea claimed the performance of the night by crushing Schalke 3-0, with striker Fernando Torres also scoring twice to put the 2012 champions top of Group E.

Back from a thigh injury, Messi scored from close range to cancel out Robinho’s opener for Milan and keep Barca in charge of Group H on seven points, two ahead of the Italians.

Robert Lewandowski grabbed an 82nd-minute winner for Dortmund, last season’s beaten finalist, at Arsenal in Group F to bring the English team down to earth after a flying start to the Premier League and in Europe.

They are joined in a three-way tie on six points by Napoli, which won 2-1 at Marseille to condemn the French side to a third straight loss.

There were also first wins of the group stage for Celtic and Zenit St. Petersburg while Basel drew 1-1 at Steaua Bucharest.

Milan and Barca were meeting in Europe’s top competition for the seventh time in three seasons, so it was perhaps no surprise to see the teams cancel each other out.

There was no shortage of stars on show at the San Siro and two of them combined for Milan’s opener, Robinho exchanging passes with Kaka before slotting past Victor Valdes.

However, Milan has never been able to handle Messi - the Argentina forward has now scored six times against the Italians - and he equalized after collecting Andres Iniesta’s pass, evading Kevin Constant and shooting into the bottom corner.

The teams meet again in two weeks’ time, with Barcelona knowing a victory would put them on 10 points and close to the knockout stage.

Celtic is two points behind Milan after beating Ajax 2-1 thanks to goals by James Forrest and Beram Kayal in a 10-minute spell either side of halftime. Ajax grabbed a consolation goal through Lasse Schone in second-half stoppage time. AP