BY OLIVER HOLT ( The Times )

Amid scenes of chaotic jubilation rarely witnessed in recent years, United's players were carried from the pitch on the shoulders of their supporters in a spontaneous outpouring of joy and celebration. It took David Beckham fully 15 minutes to reach the sanctuary of the tunnel. He was still dancing and punching his fists into the air in delight when he disappeared,

It had seemed that the tie was beyond United, their season perhaps on the brink of falling apart, when Roy Keane, their captain, was sent off late in the second half of a semi-final replay that turned into a classic, an epic of passion and resilience, for chopping down Marc Overmars, the holders' Dutch winger.

Somehow, though, the heroics of Peter Schmeichel, their goalkeeper, including a brilliant injury-time penalty save from Dennis Bergkamp that took the match into extra time, kept their hopes alive, allowing Giggs to conjure an improbable victory after Bergkamp had equalised Beckham's opening goal.

There seemed to be little danger when Giggs picked the ball up midway inside the Arsenal half in the 108th minute, but he dribbled past five players, leaving a trail of the best defenders in the country prostrate in his wake, before lashing his shot high into the roof of the net.

It might just be the goal that turns United's season. The pursuit of the European Cup, the FA Carling Premiership and the FA Cup seemed to be taking its toll at last, but at Villa Park last night they broke the hold that Arsenal seemed to have established over them by beating the North London side for the first time in seven attempts.

To gild their night, Chelsea could only draw with Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium and so failed to leapfrog United at the top of the table.

United have also given themselves a crucial psychological advantage for the title run-in and their return match against Juventus in Turin next week. Even more than that, they rediscovered the joy of the sight of one of their most gifted players at his peak.

Giggs, once the brightest star in United's firmament, has been overshadowed in recent years by the emergence of Beckham and, more recently, the goals of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole. He reclaimed his birthright last night, leading Alex Ferguson, the United manager, to acclaim his "genius". Ferguson said: "I think over the two ties we deserved to go through. We were hanging on for grim death, but you cannot beat that kind of courage. We needed something out of this world, something special. It was a truly remarkable goal. We are delighted."

It was all achieved with a team lacking four of United's starting players. Yorke was on the bench, Cole was rested because of an ankle injury and Denis Irwin and Paul Scholes were substitutes.

In the first half, Teddy Sheringham proved a more than able deputy in attack. Consigned to the reserves for most of the season, he emerged from that purdah last night and reminded English football that he still possesses subtle qualities that can unlock the most stubborn of defences.

In the space of ten minutes, he caused Tony Adams, Martin Keown and company more discomfort than they had endured for the duration of the first tie and it was his prompting in the 17th minute that led to United taking the lead.

Beckham began the move and played a short ball forward to Sheringham, who shielded it from Adams and laid it back to his colleague. Beckham looked up and curled a fierce drive towards the bottom right-hand corner, across David Seaman. The goalkeeper seemed to have it covered but, somehow, it eluded his dive and nestled in the back of the net.

The match slipped into a bad-tempered blitz of bookings, flailing arms, raised feet and anguished exhortations, particularly from Bergkamp, who was becoming increasingly irate with Jaap Stam.

United should have extended their lead at the start of the second half when Keane played Solskjaer in on Seaman, but the Norway forward dragged his shot hopelessly wide.

The introduction of Overmars changed the course of the game. Five minutes after Overmars had risen from the bench, Bergkamp collected a pass from Winterburn with his back to goal in the 68th minute. He turned and advanced towards goal before unleashing a right-foot shot that Schmeichel had covered. The ball deflected off Stam's left leg, though, and bounced beyond the goalkeeper.

Arsenal, suddenly rampant, thought they had scored again in the 72nd minute when Bergkamp's shot squirmed out of Schmeichel's grasp and Anelka rounded the goalkeeper and slid the ball home, but the Frenchman was offside.

Two minutes after that, Keane, who had already been booked for a foul on Bergkamp, scythed down Overmars and was shown the red card.

It seemed then that the game had swung irrevocably towards Arsenal and that impression appeared to be confirmed when Phil Neville tripped Parlour in the box deep into injury time. Bergkamp, so desperate to reach Wembley after missing out on the Cup Final through injury last season, took the penalty but Schmeichel flung himself to his left and pushed the kick round the post.

Schmeichel rescued United again early in extra time when he beat out a shot from Bergkamp at full stretch and then produced an astonishing reaction save to beat out Ronny Johnsen's inadvertent touch to Petit's corner, which seemed destined to be an own goal.

The stage was set for Giggs.

ARSENAL (4-4-2): D Seaman - L Dixon, M Keown, T Adams, N Winterburn - R Parlour (sub: Kanu, 105min), P Vieira, E Petit (sub: S Bould, 120), F Ljungberg (sub: M Overmars, 63) - N Anelka, D Bergkamp.

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): P Schmeichel - G Neville, R Johnsen, J Stam, P Neville - D Beckham, R Keane, N Butt, J Blomqvist (sub: R Giggs, 62) - O G Solskjaer (sub: D Yorke, 91), E Sheringham (sub: P Scholes, 76).

Referee: D Elleray.