Van Nistelrooy made it nine goals in nine Champions League outings for the Spanish champions with a strike in each half but Goran Pandev hit two goals of his own in response to give draw specialists Lazio their second point in Group C.

Lazio have now drawn six of their eight Champions League and Serie A matches this season and will be desperate to get their first win of the group stage against Werder Bremen on October 24.

Madrid were quickly into their stride in the Italian capital and took the lead with just eight minutes on the clock.

Wesley Sneijder was the creator, his free-kick from the left striking the shins of fellow Holland international Van Nistelrooy and trickling into the net beyond the wrong-footed Marco Ballotta in the Lazio goal.

Ten minutes later the Primera Liga leaders were on the attack again, this time Van Nistelrooy combining well with Raul on the edge of the Lazio area to send the Madrid captain in on goal but the Lazio defence cleared.

Lazio were struggling to penetrate in the early exchanges, but all that changed as they suddenly found the extra gear that has been deserting them all season on the half-hour-mark.

Their first chance was squandered horribly by Pandev, however, the striker played clean through one-on-one with Iker Casillas but was only able to fire high over the bar, much to the anger of the boisterous Lazio faithful.

Just a minute later Casillas had to repel a header from Stefano Mauri as the hosts turned the screw, but the breakthrough was just moments away.

Pandev atoned for his earlier error with a crisp finish, the Macedonian making no mistake with a thundering left-footed volley into the top-left of Casillas' goal after he had been teed up by Guglielmo Stendardo's neat header.

Into the second period, Van Nistelrooy quickly set about terrorising the home defence again, this time flicking the ball up on the edge of the area and launching himself into an overhead kick that forced an equally acrobatic save from Ballotta.

Two minutes later the prolific marksman was at it again, but this time he failed to connect cleanly with a volley from Arjen Robben's low centre and Ballotta gathered.

On 57 minutes Lazio's top scorer last season Tommaso Rocchi spurned a glorious chance to put the hosts in front.

The striker stole in at the back post and had only Casillas to beat but inexplicably tried to squeeze the ball between the goalkeeper and the near post when a shot across the custodian was surely the better option.

And just four minutes later Lazio were made to pay for that miss as Van Nistelrooy found the net for the second time in the match.

Raul created the opening, his through-ball springing the offside trap and Van Nistelrooy showed all his class when one-on-one with the keeper, selling two dummies before picking his spot with a lofted finish after Ballotta had gone to ground.

But the Italians showed their fighting spirit once more on 74 minutes, and again it was Pandev doing the damage.

This time the striker picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and ran towards Gabriel Heinze and Fabio Cannavaro, but even such an imposing duo could not prevent what came next, as Pandev cut inside and finished with a low drive to Casillas' left.

Lazio's Stephen Makinwa and Madrid's Roysten Drenthe both had chances to win the game for their respective sides at the death, but in the end a draw was a fair result.