Dan Kennedy made five saves and the new-look Los Angeles Galaxy held Santos Laguna to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night.

After failing to defend the MLS title last season, the Galaxy underwent another overhaul heavy on star power. Five newcomers were in the starting lineup, including former England defender Ashley Cole and Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong, and it didn’t take long for that added strength to show itself.

Jelle Van Damme’s header off a corner kick forced Santos Laguna goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin to make a dramatic one-handed save in the opening minute. The Galaxy continued to create chances early, with Robbie Keane slipping behind three defenders in the 17th minute but he was unable to head Steven Gerrard’s cross home.

“If we had scored a goal it would have been the perfect result, but it is still a good result,” Gerrard said. “We’ve been banging the drum all preseason about being solid defensively and keeping clean sheets, and that’s the basis we can be successful from.”

The tie will be settled in Torreon, Mexico on 1 March. It became particularly ill-tempered in the final minutes when Keane got into an animated discussion with Santos Laguna manager Luis Zubeldia before the two were separated.

“Could be worse,” Galaxy manager Bruce Arena said of the result. “For our first time out I thought we played well. We’re not going to change much between now and Tuesday. In a couple months, we’ll see what kind of team we have.”

The match opened up late in the second half, with chances developing at both ends of the pitch. Carlos Izquierdoz redirected a free kick just wide of goal in the 78th minute for Santos Laguna, while a subsequent clever one-two between Giovani Dos Santos and Robbie Rogers on the edge of the box failed to result in a Galaxy shot.

While Santos Laguna are nearly halfway through their Liga MX Clausura season, the Mexican side never really got into a flow offensively until the final minutes of the first half. One of its best looks came in the 67th minute, when Jesus Molina’s booming shot hit Giovani Dos Santos in the side, prompting unsuccessful appeals for a handball.