Confederation final… a surprise blow to Zamalek in the match against “Ittihad Al-Capital”

Zamalek suffered a painful blow in the first half of their CAF Confederation Cup final second leg decider against USM Algiers in Algeria this Saturday night.

Ittihad Al-Capital finished the first match at their stadium, winning with an unanswered goal scored by Ahmed Khaledi.

In the 19th minute, Zamalek goalkeeper Mahdi Soliman came to the rescue for the white team when he came out of the goal to keep the ball away from the Ittihad Al-Asimah striker, but collided with the latter, causing his injury.

The Zamalek goalkeeper tried to hold on and stay on the pitch as long as possible, but the pain of the injury was more than he could bear, forcing technical director Motamed Gamal to replace him and bring on goalkeeper Mohamed Awad in the 30th minute.

Video: Penalty kick and disallowed goal: Zamalek sweep Confederations final to nil

Minutes after coming on, Awad proved his alertness when he pushed back Algeria star Ahmed Khalidi’s rocket from outside the penalty area in the 43rd minute.

In the 5th minute of the match at the Cairo International Stadium, Zamalek ended the first half with a clear goal by Palestinian Udai Al-Dabagh in the 5th minute.