Away draws for Bilbao, Arsenal

Bayer Leverkusen registers 3-2 win in Champions League qualifier

August 20, 2014 11:25 pm | Updated 11:26 pm IST - Madrid

Arsenal failed to score an away goal but were relieved to have escaped from Istanbul with a 0-0 scoreline. Here, Besiktas's Pedro Franco, centre, and Olivier Giroud of Arsenal, right, fight for the ball.

Arsenal failed to score an away goal but were relieved to have escaped from Istanbul with a 0-0 scoreline. Here, Besiktas's Pedro Franco, centre, and Olivier Giroud of Arsenal, right, fight for the ball.

Athletic Bilbao and Arsenal were held to draws at defiant Napoli and Besiktas respectively on Tuesday, in the first legs of the qualifying round playoffs for the Champions League.

Bilbao were held 1-1 while Arsenal had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

Iker Munian gave Bilbao the lead in Naples just before half-time with a low drive after taking a pass from Oscar de Marcos. The Basques then let Napoli off the hook by wasting good chances to go further ahead.

Napoli stormed back in the second half and Gonzalo Higuain equalised for the hosts 22 minutes from time with a clever low shot. Jose Callejon then astonishingly failed to make it 2-1 for Napoli from close range.

Bilbao’s veteran keeper Gorka Iraizoz then made two late sharp saves, to keep the score at 1-1.

Meanwhile in Istanbul, Arsenal dominated but lacked a cool finish against well-drilled Besiktas, who created several chances of their own.

The Gunners’ chances of stealing a win were crippled by the sending-off of Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey 10 minutes from time, for a second yellow card offence.

Even so, Arsenal sub Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hit the Besiktas post with just five minutes left.

In Tuesday’s other first legs, Bayer Leverkusen won 3-2 at Copenhagen - on goals from Stefan Kiessling, Karim Bellarabi and Heung-Min Son - Red Bull Salzburg beat Malmo 2-1 and Steaua Bucharest edged Ludogorets 1-0 thanks to a late strike from Alexsandru Chipciu.

The second legs will be played on August 27.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.