Safa asked the early questions with Hassan Mehanna sent through on goal by Tidiane Camara in the seventh minute but Al Arabi custodian Sulaiman Abdulghafoor pulled off a fine save before Hussein Sharafeddine chested the ball over the bar from close range after Mohammad El Hayek’s free-kick was allowed to bounce in the box.

Al Arabi then created two openings, both of which fell to full-back Abdulwahab Alawadhi, who fired the first one from range slightly over the bar before seeing his shot from inside the box take a deflection to make it an easy catch for Ali Hallal.

The deadlock was broken in the 42nd minute when El Hayek pumped in a deep cross from the left which Camara rose highest at the back post to nod past a rooted Abdulghafoor.

The Lebanon side doubled their advantage three minutes later when Carter Ahiro’s free-kick from the right flank found Mehanna who stooped home a header to take Al Arabi into the break with a comfortable lead.

Head coach Marcelo Alves looked for a response as he introduced Christopher Powei and Abdalla Albuloushi into the fray and the arrival of fresh legs for Al Arabi pushed them to pull a goal back eight minutes into the restart.

Assi was shown the red card after he handled on the line in stopping Ali Aziz’s goal-bound shot with forward Anayo Iwuala stepping up to convert, smashing his penalty into the top corner.

With their numerical superiority, Al Arabi dominated the game and went close to drawing level in the 68th minute when Powei and Zeid Qunbar exchanged passes to send the former through on goal only for Eugene Kouassi to make a fantastic clearance.

From the ensuing corner, the Kuwait side found the equaliser as Qunbar powered a header that crashed against the bar before hitting the unfortunate Kassem Hayek to land over the goal line.

Another sending off in the 80th minute, this time Marmouk for a professional foul after he took down Camara just outside the box saw the game evened up again as the teams shared the spoils.