ANKARA
Turkish club Besiktas drew 0-0 at home with English Premier League side Arsenal in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off tie on Tuesday.
The Istanbul team found many chances to score during the first half while Arsenal tried to hit on counter attacks.
Besiktas' Senegalese forward Demba Ba nearly found the net straight from the kick-off but the ball hit the cross-bar.
In the early minutes of the second half, Besiktas was again very close to score the leading goal, but Turkish midfielder Olcay Sahan's drive went off target.
In the 80th minute Arsenal's Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey was sent off by receiving a second yellow card after penalising Besiktas midfielder Oguzhan Ozyakup.
The 89th minute saw the Gunners' English winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's close range shot in the box rattling the post.
In the remaining time, neither sides could change the score, and the game ended as a goalless draw. Return match will be played at Emirates Stadium on August 27 in London.
Results of the night are as follows:
Salzburg 2 Malmo 1
Steaua Bucharest 1 Ludogorets 0
Besiktas 0 Arsenal 0
Copenhagen 2 Bayer Leverkusen 3
Napoli 1 Athletic Bilbao 1
Rest of the games in play-off round will be played Wednesday at 20.45 CET.
Fixture is as follows:
Lille vs Porto
Standard Liege vs Zenit
Slovan Bratislava vs BATE Borisov
Aalborg vs APOEL
Maribor vs Celtic
www.aa.com.tr/en
