Paul Scholes scored the goal that shattered Arsenal's Treble dream and sent Manchester United into their first FA Cup final of the Millennium Stadium era.
The Gunners, chasing a record fourth successive final appearance, were made to pay for wasting four glorious chances inside the opening three minutes. And despite dominating possession for long periods after half-time and introducing Thierry Henry, they failed to test Roy Carroll to subside to only their third domestic defeat of the season.
Scholes crashed home the 32nd-minute winner in typical fashion when Ryan Giggs found space inside the Gunners box and fed the flame-haired midfielder who then produced a clincal finish.
Remarkably, the win, United's 11th successive FA Cup semi-final success dating back to 1970, was achieved without Ruud van Nistelrooy and came after one of the worst periods of Alex Ferguson's entire Old Trafford reign. Now Ferguson will get the chance to lead his team out in a cup final for the sixth time on May 22, knowing the Red Devils will be hot favourites to beat either Sunderland or Millwall.
Such is the infamous nature of Ferguson's pre-match injury pronouncements that, having informed the world Ruud van Nistelrooy was extremely doubtful for today's encounter, the last thing anyone expected was for the prolific Dutchman's name not to be on the United teamsheet.
Arsene Wenger had dropped his own striking bombshell by leaving out Henry, but at least the Frenchman was available on the bench, should the game turn against the Gunners, as it eventually did, and after 57 minutes, the lethal striker was introduced.
Without Van Nistelrooy, Ferguson gave Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a lone striking berth and opted to play Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs in wide positions, an inspired move as it turned out for the young Portuguese winger kept finding yards of space down the United right and had the Arsenal defence at full stretch to stop him.
Given the respective recent form of the two sides, what a difference it would have made to the game had Arsenal taken one of the four clear-cut chances that came their way in a 60-second spell not that long after the start.
Defensive misjudgement in the Red Devils' ranks allowed Dennis Bergkamp to sprint onto a long ball pumped out of the Gunners half. Clean through, the Dutchman steadied himself but saw his initial shot blocked by Carroll's legs. Bergkamp was still expected to stroke home the rebound but, having retreated to the goal-line, Wes Brown, magnificent throughout, kept his nerve to head the curling shot clear.
Straight from the corner, Edu's neat chip came crashing off the crossbar. Carroll's attempts to save seemed to have taken him out of the action but when Kolo Toure nodded the rebound towards the empty net, the Northern Ireland international - given his chance by Ferguson ahead of the impressive Tim Howard - scrambled back to his feet and clawed the ball away.
It was hard to tell who should gain most confidence from such an amazing start, and from the breathtaking action that followed, there was no clear cut evidence either way.
Just as they had done six days ago, United tried to make up for their lack of comparable fluency with an absolute refusal to lose any 50-50 confrontations and an admirable drive. Given the nature of the club and its manager, and that their whole season depended on this one game, it was perhaps no surprise. Yet Pires might have put them in front before Scholes lashed home the opener but headed a Bergkamp cross tamely over.
The goal was an act of simplicity once Giggs had found space on the edge of the Gunners' box and Neville had picked him out with a neat pass. The Welshman advanced into the box, then picked out Scholes with a cut-back and the England man rasped home an unstoppable shot.
Roy Keane, who made some inspirational challenges on a few occasions as his aggressive central partnership with Darren Fletcher paid dividends for Utd, sent a header crashing off his own post as he attempted to clear a Pires free-kick in the last minute of the opening period. However, United held their advantage at the interval and scrapped for all they were worth to preserve the lead after half-time.
Though Henry was introduced, it was Vieira who led the Gunners' assault, yet despite long periods of domination, Arsenal could not find a way through.
Afterwards, Ferguson praised the efforts of his players, singling out Solskjaer, Carroll and Ronaldo. "Losing Ruud was a blow to us, but Solskjaer's play was intelligent, he played his part well. I'm pleased for the players and for the supporters."
And on Carroll's close range save from Toure early in the first half, the Scot said: "That gave us the bit of luck we needed. We started quite well, but the best chance came for them early on and Roy Carroll played his part well."
Ferguson continued: "We let Ronaldo be free, we felt the counter-attack would always be through him, he was the ace for us really."
Filed by James Boylan
