The only goal came midway through the second half through striker Mouslem Moubarak to put Al Zawra'a top of the group with United Arab Emirates' Al Wahda, who edged Al Rayyan in the other match of the group by the same scoreline.

"I'm really surprised with this result," said Radi. "We went into the game with the hope of getting a draw but a win is more than we expected and we are extremely happy.

"The win was not easy as Al Arabi gave us a hard time and we managed to hold them off on several occaisons throughout.

"We had a good game and I congratulate my players for their good performance.

"Al Arabi were not easy opponents and they have good players especially Khaled Matar who had a good game."

Mohammed Al Shehhi's 81st minute strike was enough to earn United Arab Emirates champions Al Wahda a 1-0 win over Al Rayyan of Qatar in their 2007 AFC Champions League Group A clash.

Al Shehhi struck from close range to seal the win for Al Wahda and hand them the perfect start to their continental campaign, although the victory was soured with Ismael Mattar's sending off for a second bookable offence five minutes from time.

Two goals in the second half saved Al Karama against Al Sadd in their opening match of group C at Khaled Ibn Al Waleed stadium as last year's runners-up returned from one goal down to win 2-1.

After trailing by the end of the first half with Magid Hassan goal, Al Karama leveled the scores through their Senegalese striker Senghor Koupouleni in the 70 th minute while Abdulrahman Akkari scored the winner seven minutes from time.

Al Shabab manager Jose de Morias hailed the fighting spirit in his squad as they secured a superb 2-0 victory at Al Ain in their AFC Champions League opening game.

Ghanaian Godwin Attram scored in injury time in the first half and Waleed Al Gizani added the second in the 72nd minute to complete a fine win over the inaugural 2003 winners of the continental title.

De Morias said: "We had a few factors that worked really well for us in this opening game.

"The players concentrated and fought until the last second of the match. That probably was the difference between the two teams.

"Obviously we came with a game plan and it worked very well for us.

"Al Ain, as we all know, are one of the big teams in the group. We played better and deserved to win.

"It's always good to start with a win but we still have a long way to go. I hope we can continue the way we have started."

Akmal Holmatov scored the only goal of the game to give Neftchi a 1-0 victory against hosts Al Najaf at Sabah Al Salem stadium in their AFC Champions League opening Group C match on Wednesday.

Holmatov's goal came in the 71st minute to give his side their first three points in the competition and put them at the top of the group along with last year's runners-up Al Karama

Elsewhere, a brace from Seyed Mohamad Salehi gave Sepahan their first win in this year's AFC Champions League following their 2-1 victory against Al Ittihad at Foolad Shahr stadium while Al Hilal drew 1-1 with Al Kuwait in their Group B game.