LONDON: Besiktas hit the bar straight from kickoff as they were held 0-0 at home by ten-man Arsenal in Tuesday’s Champions League playoffs while Athletic Bilbao earned the upper hand in their tie with Napoli following a 1-1 draw in Italy.

Bayer Leverkusen are better placed to reach the group stage after winning 3-2 at FC Copenhagen, Jonathan Soriano struck the woodwork three times and scored in Red Bull Salzburg’s 2-1 win over visiting Malmo a late goal gave Steaua Bucharest a 1-0 home win over Ludogorets Razgrad in the other first leg ties.

Arsenal, aiming to reach the group stage for the 17th season in a row, will be happy to have survived their tricky trip to Istanbul, especially after Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey was sent off in the 80th minute after being shown a second yellow card for tugging Oguzhan Ozyakup’s shirt.

“For me it’s unbelievable to get the second yellow card when you see the kind of fouls they have made today. It’s not serious,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told ITV.

At the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, a familiar face nearly embarrassed Arsenal from the kickoff.

Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba lobbed the ball from the halfway line and it was looping into the top corner until goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pushed it onto the crossbar.

Ba again tested Szczesny with a firmly-struck volley while Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla went close for the Gunners before Ba, who scored a hat-trick versus Feyenoord in the previous round, rolled a shot just wide of the post at the end of a lively opening 45 minutes in Turkey.

Despite losing Ramsey, Arsenal nearly grabbed the winner when Tolga Zengin tipped Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s curling effort on to the post.

“It was a very good game played with a good pace, a frenetic pace from the first to the last minute,” Wenger said. “In the end we didn’t lose the game and hopefully we can make it at home.”

After Ramsey’s red card, Besiktas coach Slaven Bilic also saw red in a heated conclusion on the touchline. “They will be without Ramsey who for me is the top man in the team,” Bilic said. “We are still alive and we go to the Emirates with even more confidence ... we have a plan we have a dream.”

Serie A was left in danger of having only two teams in the group stage after Napoli, playing their first competitive match of the season, failed to beat Bilbao.

Iker Muniain side-footed the visitors ahead four minutes before half-time as Napoli struggled to find their rhythm.

But the Italian side’s Argentina forward Gonzalo Higuain levelled in the 68th minute when he brilliantly pulled down a pass and, despite being surrounded by three defenders, managed to make space and score with a low shot into the far corner.

Muniain’s away goal could prove decisive for Bilbao and they and go into the return leg next Wednesday at San Mames as slight favourites.

“Considering the way the game went, we can consider our reaction positive and must begin again from that,” said Napoli coach Rafael Benitez.

In Copenhagen, Stefan Kiessling took just five minutes to put Leverkusen in front, but the hosts hit back with Mathias Jorgensen nodding in an equaliser from a corner before Daniel Amartey put the Danes in front in the 13th minute.

Parity was restored in the 31st when Karim Bellarabi knocked the ball into the net and Son Heung-min secured Leverkusen’s valuable away win just before half time after meeting Hakan Calhanoglu’s throughball.

Goals in either half from Franz Schiemer and Soriano earned Austrian champions Salzburg a 2-1 win at home to Malmo but Emil Forsberg’s injury-time strike gave the Swedes a fighting chance of reaching the Champions League group stage for the first time.

The only goal of the night in Romania took until the 88th minute to come, with Alexandru Chipciu, who had already missed a penalty, striking into the net this time for 1986 European champions Steaua against Bulgarians Ludogorets.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2014