Gunners fire blanks against Besiktas

Istanbul: Arsenal head for the home leg of their Champions League play-off against Besiktas with their hopes intact after surviving the test of a raucous Istanbul crowd and hugely energised opponents to leave Turkey with a goalless draw. In the first leg of the play-off, Arsenal failed to score the all-important away goal but were relieved to have escaped from Istanbul with a 0-0 scoreline and still every hope they will qualify in the home leg for the group stages.

However, the only sour note was they ended the match with 10 men as key Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey was sent off 10 minutes from time. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger acknowledged that his side’s goalless draw was a fair result for a “difficult” game but blasted the performance of the referee. “I think not the first not the second yellow card was deserved for Ramsey,” Wenger said.

“When you see some of the fouls committed and you go home with a red card, it is somewhat unbelievable.”Wenger whose 100 per cent win record in Champions League play-off matches came to an end after 12 wins in 12 described the game as a “difficult match played at a high pace” and praised the opposition for playing at “100 per cent”.The prospect of entry into the lucrative group stages of the Champions League dynamised Besiktas, who came third in the Turkish league last season under Croatian manager Slaven Bilic.

Helped by the noisy, partisan home crowd, Besiktas caused the London side trouble from the start with new signing Demba Ba a potent threat. The home fans treated Arsenal to the traditional and notorious Istanbul hostile welcome for foreign sides of deafening whistling, smoke flares and taunts. Besiktas had no problem creating chances but failed to land the clinical blow in front of goal that could have left Arsenal’s early season in tatters.

But in a testy second half that lacked the sparkle of the first, Arsenal could also make no headway past the solid Besiktas defence and the Istanbul side scrambled to thwart English attacks before heading out on the break.