A thunderbolt from Ahmed Gaafar, who atoned for an earlier miss, gave lively Zamalek a narrow 1-0 victory over DR Congo's Vita Club who fought bravely in an exciting African Champions League encounter.

Zamalek will head into the second leg of the competition's round of 32 in a fortnight as slight favourites after they could only notch up a solitary goal at Alexandria's Borg El-Arab Stadium.

The visitors' resolute defence kept the Cairo giants at bay for long periods until Gaafar broke the deadlock eight minutes past the hour mark with a fierce first-timer from inside the area, few minutes after spurning a golden goal-scoring opportunity.

However, instead of celebrating his goal, Gaafar threw Zamalek's shirt onto the pitch and gesticulated to coach Jorvan Vieira to substitute him after being jeered by the fans.

Although he is Zamalek's top scorer in the Egyptian Premier League with three goals in six games, the 27-year-old is often criticised by the team's fans for wasting too many easy chances.

The White Knights are bidding to win Africa's elite club competition for the first time since 2002. They have five titles under their belt, two behind traditional foes and record winners Ahly who face Kenya's Tusker away from home on Saturday.

Passionate crowd  

Roared on by their passionate hardcore fans,whose efforts to pressure authorities into reversing a decision to hold the game behind closed doors eventually paid dividends, Zamalek went on the offensive from the very beginning.

However, they struggled to break down a rugged defence despite the presence of mercurial playmaker Mohamed Ibrahim, who was well contained by Vita Club's backline.

Zamalek were restricted to some long-range efforts, including a shot from Ibrahim that went over the crossbar and a curling free-kick from right-back Ahmed Samir which went over the bar.

Samir was guilty of squandering the team's best chance in the first half when he could only send a weak header that was blocked by the keeper after being found unmarked by a cross from veteran midfielder Ahmed Hassan.

Vita Club could have hit Zamalek on the break though but a thunderous shot came back off the crossbar after 11 minutes.

Gaafar stunner

Zamalek laid siege to Vita Club's area after the break and seemed more determined to break the deadlock, inspired by the energetic moves of Ibrahim and the evergreen Hassan, who played behind lone striker Gaafar.

They launched wave after wave of attacks that Vita Club struggled to repel.

Gaafar sent a weak shot straight into the keeper's hands with the goal at his mercy but made amends on 68 minutes to spark wild celebrations in the enthusiastic north stand.

Hassan's clever dummy allowed a pass from Sabri Rahil to slip into the path of the towering frontman, whose fierce drive with the outside of his right foot left the keeper with no chance.

Zamalek poured forward in a bid to extend the gap and were unlucky not to double their lead in the 74th minute when Hassan was released by a deft pass from Ibrahim but the keeper rushed out in a timely manner to block his effort.

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