Middlesbrough have marked their return to the Premier League following a seven-season absence with a 1-1 draw against Stoke City at the Riverside Stadium.

The Smoggies edged ahead early on through one of their summer signings in Alvaro Negredo, but an underwhelming Stoke responded through a Xherdan Shaqiri free kick in the second half.

City could muster just one attempt on target all afternoon in the North-East, as their search for an opening-day win now stretches into an eighth year, while Boro have also now failed to win 13 of their last 15 openers.

It was a first half of very few chances, but Gaston Ramirez - who joined the club on a permanent deal earlier this summer - was involved from the off when picking out Negredo with a smart knockdown across goal.

Negredo, a prolific forward during the first half of his Manchester City days, made no mistake from just a few yards out as he made contact with the ball to put the hosts into a deserved lead.

The Smoggies were forced into making a change with a quarter of the match played, with defensive-midfield lynchpin Marten de Roon - one of four home debutants - hobbling off to be replaced by Adam Forshaw.

It was proving to be an extremely frustrating start to the season for Stoke, who just could not get going and so nearly fell two down when Ramirez got a yard on Ryan Shawcross and struck the outside of the post with his attempt.

Ramirez was fast becoming the game's star performer, this time using his strong leap at the other end of the field to head a deflected City corner off the line to deny the visitors a leveller shortly before the interval.

The second half unfolded in a similar way to the first; chances again proving to be very hard to come by for either side in front of the 32,000 Riverside crowd.

Marko Arnautovic and Alberto Adomah both looked to create openings for their side, but the latter failed to pick out Negredo with a simple pass after doing the hard work and Arnautovic blasted over the bar.

Stoke were finally on level terms 66 minutes in when, from their first and only attempt on goal, Shaqiri curled a free kick perfectly past the outstretched hand of Victor Valdes via the far post.

City were the side in the ascendancy for the remainder, although the two best openings fell the way of Boro as both Ben Gibson and Stewart Downing came close from headed attempts.

It was not to be in the end, though, with the two teams having to settle for a point apiece on the opening day in a rather tame Riverside clash.