It was enough to send the Red Devils supporters into raptures and confirm United’s belief that the £2.3m (€3.25m) splashed out on the 23-year-old to lure him from Major League Soccer will be more than justified.

But Howard is not interested in playing well once, or even for one season. He wants to go down in history for the performances he produces over a far longer period than that.

“What is most important to me is to play well over a long period of time, not to do it over one or two seasons,” he said.

“It was a boost to be selected for such a big match but I have never been one to be over-confident. I know I have the ability but I also still have a lot to learn.

“Anything can happen in a penalty shoot-out and I would have preferred the game not to end that way. But fortunately I got lucky and it helped me win my first medal at the club. Hopefully there will be many more to come.”

Alex Ferguson has already compared Howard to legendary keeper Peter Schmeichel for his presence in the penalty area and if his overall display at the Millennium Stadium is anything to go buy, the Old Trafford boss might finally have found someone to fill the great Dane’s boots – at the seventh attempt.

In the four seasons since Schmeichel retired, Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi and Fabien Barthez have all tried and failed to fill the role. Barthez looked most likely to achieve the aim, but fell out of favour towards the end of last season when Ferguson blamed him for the Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.

But while the decision to name Howard in his starting line-up for yesterday’s game seems an obvious pointer towards the opening-day Premiership encounter with Bolton on August 16, the exit door in Barthez’s case, the arrival from Major League Soccer is refusing to take anything for granted.

“There are four great goalkeepers at the club and I don’t see myself as first-choice,” he said.

“We all need to push each other and we all need to compete and then the manager can decide who is going to play. The competition will keep us sharp.”

Howard admitted he was frustrated by his failure to keep out Thierry Henry’s brilliant free-kick which pulled Arsenal level and added that the goal had exposed a minor flaw in United’s defensive pattern.

However, he is also aware that the flying Frenchman boasts talent which cannot be found in MLS, which is why he was so proud just to be on the pitch.

“Thierry got it over the top of the wall and while it was a fantastic goal, I got annoyed with myself because I got a hand to it.

“I thought it was going wide, so it was a bit frustrating to see the ball in the back of the net.

“It just shows the quality of the players I’m facing now though. I hoped the standard would be high, it was one of the attractions of playing here.

“It means a lot to American soccer that I have joined people like Brad Friedel and Claudio Reyna. I want to follow the path they have created, not trudge my own, and hopefully others will do the same.”

While Ferguson’s goalkeeping selection for Saturday’s visit of Sam Allardyce’s Trotters looks relatively straight-forward, his defensive options look weak.

Gary Neville is already struggling with a hamstring injury, while brother Phil is also a doubt after picking up a pulled muscle in the incident which saw Francis Jeffers dismissed.

If that wasn’t enough, stand-in left-back Quinton Fortune has a thigh strain, which could mean Ferguson is forced to move skipper Roy Keane back into defence or draft in Danny Pugh for his first Premiership start.

Pugh is likely to be given a run in Wednesday’s final friendly at Stoke, when the United side could also feature new arrival Kleberson, providing his work permit application is processed on time.

Meanwhile Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard could not shed any light on the future of Carlos Puyol, who has been strongly linked with a move to United, after Barcelona’s pre-season friendly defeat against Manchester City.

Rijkaard would only say: “There’s been a lot of speculation but as yet there’s nothing official.”