Aaron Ramsey received a first ever red card of his club career as Arsenal drew goalless at Besiktas in a first leg UEFA Champions League qualifying playoff while five first half goals were scored in the match between FC Koebenhavn and Bayer Leverkusen.

Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba was denied by the woodwork in the opening seconds of the match in Istanbul as Besiktas had Arsenal on the backfoot in the first half but failed to get a breakthrough.

Ramsey, who scored three times over the two legs of Arsenal’s qualifying playoff against Fenerbahçe, got suspended from the second leg against Besiktas after receiving a second yellow card for a foul on former Arsenal player Oguzhan Ozyakub.

Going a man down however did not deter Arsenal as the visitors came close to snatching the winner late on only for substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s effort to be tipped onto the woodwork as the match ended goalless.

In Denmark, Stefan Kießling scored a sixth goal in two games to open the scoring for Bayer Leverkusen in the fifth minute at FC Koebenhavn but goals in the following eight minutes by Mathias Jorgensen and Daniel Amartey saw the Danes take the lead.

Karim Bellarabi levelled for the visitors just after the half-hour mark while Heung-Min Son scored what proved to be the winner for Bayer Leverkusen three minutes before half-time.

In other Champions League playoff first leg matches played, Gonzalo Huguain’s second half strike salvaged a 1-1 draw for Napoli at home to Athletic Bilbao while Salzburg beat Malmo FF 2-1 in Austria and Steaua Bucaresti overcame PFC Ludogorets by a lone goal in Romania.

The second leg matches will be played next Wednesday.