Gareth Bale put the uncertainty surrounding his Real Madrid future to one side to score off the substitutes' bench as the Spanish giants beat Arsenal on penalties in a pre-season friendly.
Madrid trailed the English club 2-0 at FedExField - home of the NFL's Washington Redskins - thanks to first-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before a raft of changes at the break saw substitutes Bale and Marco Asensio level the tie.
The game, part of the International Champions Cup series, was decided by a shoot-out, with Bale missing his spot kick while Granit Xhaka, Nacho Monreal and Robbie Burton fluffed their lines from 12 yards for Arsenal as Madrid prevailed 3-2.
Both sides finished the match with 10 men after Nacho was given his marching orders after only nine minutes before Arsenal's Sokratis Papastathopoulos was shown a red card five minutes before half time.
Bale's inclusion in the squad was something of a surprise, given that Real manager Zinedine Zidane had claimed in the buildup that the Welsh forward had declined to play in Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in Houston as the club looked to offload him.
Zidane said it was in everyone's best interests for Bale to find a new club, prompting the player's agent to brand the Frenchman's comments of a player who had spent six years in the Spanish capital and won four Champions Leagues, La Liga and the Copa del Rey as a "disgrace".
Jonathan Barnett, Bale's agent, ruled out any chance of Bale leaving the Bernabeu on loan when interviewed on Sky Sports News on Tuesday.
Zidane told reporters ahead of Tuesday's game he meant no disrespect, and Bale duly came on at half time on Tuesday and made a statement.
"He played because he wanted to be with us and play, the other day [against Bayern Munich] not," Zidane said. "He played well.
"Today he played, the decision is mine, he played a part and we will see what will happen. Nothing has changed. You know the situation."
Arsenal named a strong side captained by former Real Madrid playmaker Mesut Ozil while Real had Eden Hazard starting alongside fellow new signing Luka Jovic in attack.
The match, however, looked to be over as a contest after Real defender Nacho was sent off for two yellow cards in a frantic early spell in the United States capital.
The Spain international was shown one yellow card for a foul on Sead Kolasinac and another after blocking Lacazette's shot with his hand on the goal line.
Lacazette stepped up to sneak the 10th minute penalty home, before the Frenchman delightfully flicked the ball through for Aubameyang to double the lead 14 minutes later.
The referee evened things up, however, when he again brandished two yellow cards in quick succession to send off Arsenal's Sokratis Papastathopoulos in the 40th minute.
Bale and Asensio scored inside three second-half minutes to level the scores and take the game to penalties.
Bale continued to offer reminders of his worth - clearing a goal-bound Aubameyang drive off the line following a goalmouth scramble, and missing just wide with a curling effort off his left foot 10 minutes from time.
His fortunes dipped in the shoot-out, when he came up first for Madrid and saw his effort saved easily by Emiliano Martinez before the Spanish side prevailed.
Real Madrid take on Atletico Madrid on Friday at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, home of the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets.
Arsenal return to England having narrowly missed the chance to finish their US tour with a 100 per cent record, but can take plenty of positives from their four matches.
"We finished today, the last match, with the same spirit we played before," manager Unai Emery said.
"The result isn’t important but we showed a good level and when we needed young players their performance was perfect."
