Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey charges forward against Besiktas during last night’s Champions League qualifier.

Arsenal survived a hostile atmosphere and the sending-off of midfielder Aaron Ramsey to leave Istanbul with what could prove a priceless 0-0 draw against Besiktas in the first leg of their Champions League play-off last night.

The Gunners were stretched by Slaven Bilic’s well-drilled outfit, who almost took the lead right from kick-off at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium through a long-range effort by former Chelsea striker Demba Ba.

However, the visitors held out and – but for some poor finishing by French striker Olivier Giroud – could have netted an away goal, with substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seeing his shot touched onto the post in the closing stages.

Ramsey, who scored a stoppage-time winner against Crystal Palace on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season last Saturday, was dismissed for a second yellow card with 10 minutes left.

Arsenal, though, will welcome back Germany World Cup-winning trio Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski ahead of next week’s second leg at the Emirates Stadium, when they will be out to secure a remarkable 17th successive campaign in the lucrative group stages of Europe’s elite club competition.

Athletic Bilbao will have the upper hand back at San Mames after holding Napoli to a 1-1 Champions League play-off draw last night.

The Primera Division and Serie A giants were pitted against each other in a battle to reach the group stages and Athletic took the initiative with Iker Muniain scoring four minutes before the break in Naples.

Napoli hit back after the interval as former Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain fired a leveller on 68 minutes but the Basque outfit will fancy their chances of winning the second leg and progressing to the next stage.

Five-goal thriller

There were five goals in the first half of action in the Danish capital as Bayer Leverkusen claimed a 3-2 win at FC Copenhagen.

Stefan Kiessling (five) and Zanka (nine) exchanged goals before Daniel Amartey nudged FCK ahead in the 13th minute.

Bayer equalised through Karim Bellarabi on 31 minutes and, three minutes before the break, Son Heung-min grabbed what proved to be the winner for the Bundesliga giants.

Red Bull Salzburg will head to Sweden next week with their Champions League destiny in their own hands after Franz Schiemer and Jonathan Soriano scored in a 2-1 win over Malmo.

The ambitious Austrians, who conceded a 90th-minute away goal thanks to Emil Forsberg, were a surprise package in the Europa League last season and look set to cause more shock waves this year.

Champions League, play-offs

Second legs: August 26/27.