A hard-fought contest featured an off-field spat between a player and a rival coach, silly defensive errors and a spectacular dipping volley before the Rossoneri finally emerged victorious.
A total of 7,830 fans arrived to watch star-studded Milan strut their stuff, although Al Ahli refused to stand and admire their illustrious cohorts.
And despite David O’Leary fielding three guest players, it was his own boys who impressed, particularly goalkeeper Saif Yousif, who kept his side in the match against the Serie A leaders and the seven-times UEFA Champions League winners.
Clarence Seedorf opened the scoring for Milan and Giacomo Beretta doubled the visitors advantage in the second half but Ahli pulled one back through the goal of the match from Hassan Alli’s spectacular volley from 22 yards out.
Among the guest players were Ahli’s former star Ali Karimi, who spent four years with the club before tasting Bundesliga action with Bayern Munich, Al Wahda’s Brazilian striker Fernando Baiano and Lazio’s loanee at Al Wasl, Fabio Firamani.
Massimiliano Allegri, the AC Milan coach, gave Antonio Cassano his first start in a Milan shirt and fielded a number of his reserves in the first half, saving the best for later.
It led to an uninspiring first 15 minutes, which saw both sides waste chances to go ahead.
First, Faisal Khalil failed to connect with Bader Abdulrahman’s fifth-minute cross from the right and then Milan veteran Seedorf should have done better when Cassano set him up on the edge of the area.
Newcomer Cassano, who is expected to make his Milan deal official later today, could have had a goal on his debut but he headed high after rising unchallenged to meet Massimo Oddo’s cross from the right in the 36th minute.
Milan were then denied a penalty by referee Fahad Al Kassar, who waved play-on after Salmeen Khamis handled the ball in the box as Cassano tried to find his strike partner Alexandre Pato.
A minute later, Ismail Ahmed presented Pato with possession straight from an Ahli free-kick. The Brazilian starlet carried the ball forward and as Seedorf ran across him, he rolled the ball into the path of the Dutchman, who fired under Yousif and into the back of the net.
Yousif was otherwise Ahli’s best player on the night and in the 43rd minute he dived brilliantly to his right to keep Pato’s fierce shot out from 10 yards out.
As expected, a Milan side with fresh new faces, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Massimo Ambrosini, Daniele Bonera, Ignazio Abate and goalkeeper Christian Abbiati, strolled out for the second half.
After upping the tempo, the Rossoneri doubled their lead in the 72nd minute when Robinho crossed for youngster Beretta, who bundled the ball in using a combination of his head and shoulder.
Ibrahimovic then got himself booked in shortly afterwards after going nose-to-nose with the referee, who had ignored Milan’s appeals for a free-kick after Ahmed Ali brought Beretta down on the edge of the area.
There was drama late on as former Manchester City and Real Madrid star Robinho was carried off 10 minutes from time and is now an injury doubt for Milan’s league game against Cagliari after running into a pitchside camera.
It meant Milan were forced to play with 10 men for the remainder of the match, and Ahli made their numerical advantage count five minutes later.
Abdullah Abdulrahman took possession close to the touchline and lobbed over Bonera for Hassan Ali to power home a fierce volley that beat a diving Abbiati.
The match, though, ended on a sour note for Ibrahimovic, who was booed off the field for his jab at Hassan Ali, resulting in an altercation with O’Leary in time added on.
AC MILAN: Falvio Roma, Pato, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Alessandro Nesta, Rodney Strasser, Massimo Oddo, Thiago Silva, Mario Yepes, Luca Antonini, Antonio Cassano: SUBS; Christian Abbiati, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Gianluca Zambrotta, Ignacio Abate, Bruno Montelongo, Massimo Ambrosini, Daniele Bonera, Giacomo Beretta, Alexander Merkel, Robinho, Nnandi Oduamadi
AL AHLI: Saif Yousif, Salmeen Khamis, Faisal Khalil, Esmail Ahmad, Ahmed Khamis, ahmad Shah, Andre Luciano da Silva, Fabio Cannavaro, Tareq Ahmad, Bader Abdulrahman, Ali Karemi: SUBS; Yousif Abdulla, Ahmed Ali, Khalid Mohammad, Obaid Khalefa, Ali Abbas, Fabio Firmani, Baiano, Hassan Ali, Adil Abdulazez, Adel Abdulla, Esmail Al Hamadi, Ali Hussain, Abdulla Ali, Abdulla Abdulrahman, Mohammad Abdulrahman, Salem Khamis, Ali Karimi