The American stopper will play at Manchester United tonight despite 16 pins and a metal plate in a broken hand.

And the former Fulham team-mate of United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was delighted to have been passed fit in time for such a high-profile game.

He said: "When we went to Old Trafford the first time last season I didn't really take it all in. It wasn't until we went back there for an FA Cup game and I was on the bench that I actually had the time to sit back and watch the crowd.

"If you're playing you don't take that stuff in because you're so focused on the game, it's almost like it's black up in the stands and the only thing you think is 'did my wife make it?' You have a look in the Reading end and that's about it.

"But a couple of weeks after that we went to Arsenal and there was a break in the game because of an injury, and I looked up at the scoreboard which had Arsenal's team starting off with Lehmann and going down, and our team with Hahnemann at the top and I thought 'yeah!' I like to take snapshots for the mental scrapbook."

A snapshot of an entirely different kind occurred at Ewood Park on the final day of last season when a kick from Blackburn striker Shabani Nonda broke one bone in his right hand into five pieces and another into three.

A race against time to be fit for the new campaign had therefore begun but fortune immediately favoured the 35-year-old.

He said: "It has been a long, hard ride to get to where I am now but I had surgery super-quick back in the States. I had a friend who works at the Steadman-Hawkins clinic who was meeting the hand surgeon on a different case the next day so my friend took him the X-rays.

"I flew over for surgery the next day and that could have made all the difference between making it back for the game or not."

Reading, who lost narrowly at Old Trafford in the league last season before going on to draw there in the FA Cup, take on last term's runners-up Chelsea in midweek but Hahnemann was relaxed about such a daunting opening to the new season.

He said: "These are not make or break games for us but they are for Manchester United and Chelsea because they have to win.

"There is no pressure on us. We are just going out to enjoy it. Any time you go to Old Trafford it's a fantastic experience so we are going to have some fun."

Reading have added just Kalifa Cisse and Emerse Fae to the squad over the summer and the latter is not yet in contention for a place. But Hahnemann interpreted his manager's lack of spending as a vote of confidence in those already available.

He said: "A lot of teams have spent a lot of money but I think it bodes well for all the players here that we have actually impressed the manager enough that he hasn't felt the need to splash tons of cash around.

"He thinks we are strong enough. We have brought a couple in who will strengthen the team definitely but we are basically starting the season with the same players."