Porto's chance goes begging against 10-man Roma
Thomas Vermaelen was sent off in his Roma debut as the Serie A side settled for a 1-1 draw with FC Porto, while a goal on debut from Alexandre Pato proved in vain as Villarreal lost 2-1 to Monaco.
Thomas Vermaelen's Roma debut ended prematurely as he was sent off after just 41 minutes against Porto, though his side did manage to hold out to claim a hard-fought 1-1 draw at the Estadio do Dragao.
Luciano Spalletti’s Roma is looking to reach the group stages for the third time in a row, and it took one step towards that a 21st-minute, when Porto defender Felipe turned the ball into his own net.
But the momentum swung four minutes before halftime when Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen, making his debut following a loan move from Barcelona, was sent off for a second yellow card.
Roma was still resolute in defence, but came undone in the 61st minute, after Porto was awarded a penalty when Emerson handled the ball in the area.
Striker Andre Silva, 20, smashed the spot-kick home to draw Porto level, but Roma held on to a draw to leave the 2004 champions with plenty to do in the second leg next Wednesday at the Stadio Olimpico.
Meanwhile, Alexandre Pato continued his extraordinary record of scoring on his debuts as he struck in Villarreal's 2-1 defeat to 10-man Monaco in the first leg of its Champions League qualifying play-off.
The forward, who has previously netted in his maiden appearances for Inter, AC Milan, Corinthians, Chelsea and Brazil, opened his Villarreal account 36 minutes into his El Madrigal bow, restoring parity following Fabinho's earlier penalty.
However, the LaLiga side - now managed by Fran Escriba following Marcelino's departure - could not build on Pato's leveller, with Portugal playmaker Bernardo Silva doing the damage for Monaco, who had Benjamin Mendy sent off late on.
Elsewhere, Celtic survived a second-half scare to secure an ultimately comfortable 5-2 home victory over Hapoel Be'er Sheva at Celtic Park.
Brendan Rodgers' side had taken a convincing first-half lead courtesy of a Tom Rogic strike and Leigh Griffiths' brace, but they were almost pegged back when the visitors netted twice in the space of two minutes shortly after the restart.
Fortunately for the host, Moussa Dembele was on hand to extend their slender advantage just three minutes after coming off the bench, with captain Scott Brown wrapping up the win late on and handing Celtic a three-goal cushion in the tie.
Dundalk slipped to a 2-0 home defeat to Legia Warsaw, while Ludogorets eased to victory against Viktoria Plzen.
