Man Utd 1 Barcelona 0 (MU win 1-0 on agg): Scholes punishes Barça to set up all-English night in Moscow

Sir Alex Ferguson may one day remember it as the prelude to his finest hour; the rest of us will consider it the siege of Old Trafford or the night when Manchester United took on Lionel Messi for a place in the European Cup final. The little Argentine might just have done it on his own were it not for the extraordinary contribution of Paul Scholes, whose goal pitched a match, a night, the whole history of his famous club into a thrilling new chapter.

At last, after nine years and too many disappointments to recount, there is a second European Cup final for Ferguson in Moscow on 21 May. Ferguson who has had many great nights at Old Trafford but perhaps few as momentous as this, his 700th win in charge of United. Like the rest of us he will probably wonder in private how United survived a pounding from a Barcelona team led by Messi that was unrelenting and pitiless. Usually the history of United dictates that they conjure something miraculous on nights such as these, but for much of this game it was just simple endurance.

That and one moment of brilliance from Scholes who, with the swipe of his right foot, hit a swerving shot that faded away from Victor Valdes and into the top corner of the Barcelona goal on 14 minutes. Scholes missed the triumph of 1999 through suspension and, at 33, seemed to be running out of time before he served a reminder of his fabulous talent last night. Not that he cares what anyone else thinks.

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In the explosion of joy that engulfed Old Trafford on the final whistle, and the supporters who forgot themselves and dared to pat Ferguson on the head as he left his seat, it did not matter that this season's final will be the first all-English occasion in the history of the tournament. Chelsea or Liverpool is a matter for tonight; yesterday was about United taking a step closer to that place they call the promised land at Old Trafford. Because the club's third final means everything for United's self-esteem and Ferguson's place in the ages.

To understand United, you have to get to grips with their insecurities about the European Cup and Liverpool's five triumphs in the competition which eat away at the confidence of the club that likes to think it has it all. That was why the celebrations were fierce but brief and the United team made a point of leaving the pitch almost immediately. That indicated that the job was far from done. Later when Ferguson surfaced in the press room he slumped back in his chair, his jacket discarded. He looked exhausted.

In fact, he looked exactly like a 66-year-old man who had seen Messi almost single-handedly destroy everything he had cherished and hoped for. This was a night for Ferguson's foot-in merchants and hustlers, when he had to rely on Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown in the centre of defence and then Michael Carrick in front of it. They stopped or slowed Barcelona every way they could, sometimes with judicious fouls, but so what? An old street fighter of English football like Ferguson knows that sometimes you have to hang on by the fingernails and offer a little prayer to the gods.

Perhaps also to the memory of the men who perished in Munich 50 years ago in February, to whom this final pays eloquent tribute. The lost Busby Babes would have recognised more of the indefatigable spirit of youth in Messi than anyone else, the 20-year-old demonstrating to Cristiano Ronaldo exactly what it means to dominate a match of criticalimportance.

In the end what undid Barcelona was a tendency to regard the act of goalscoring as an optional conclusion to football of stunning quality, rather than the ultimate purpose to what they were doing. At times you had to wonder whether they regarded entrance to United's penalty area as dependent on some visa they had not yet obtained. In any event, Samuel Eto'o was desperately disappointing and had Thierry Henry, introduced after an hour, played from the start this game might well have been different.

Ferguson woke up yesterday trying to imagine the biggest game of his season without the injured Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic. He switched Owen Hargreaves to right-back and the midfielder was excellent again; he chose a 4-4-2 formation instead of 4-5-1, but it was not United who made the running.

"Believe" was the word picked out in coloured paper held up by United fans in the East stand. And believe they had to as Messi drew a foul from Scholes on the very edge of the United area with only 36 seconds on the clock. Yet for all Barcelona's breathless passing it was United who shot on sight of goal on 14 minutes. Ferdinand brought the ball out of defence, exchanged passes and played the ball in to Ronaldo, who was dispossessed by Gianluca Zambrotta. The Italian lost his balance in the act and struck his pass to the feet of Scholes, 25 yards out. Even then it was hardly an invitation to a tap-in but Scholes, who could knock a bird's nest out a tree at 50 paces, found the corner perfectly.

For a brief flurry after that United had chances. But this was Messi's game, a 57 per cent possession count in Barcelona's favour, and they fought back even after United had reasserted themselves in the early stages of the second half as Carlos Tevez's shot was saved by Valdes on 57 minutes.

As they threw on Henry, Bojan Krkic and Eidur Gudjohnsen, the attacking possibilities became endless for Barcelona, but the outcome achingly predictable. This was Ferguson stepping closer to Bob Paisley's three European Cups and Brian Clough's tally of two, although that will not have crossed his mind in the closing, frantic stages. He will just have been praying that the red line held strong on this night of all nights.

Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar; Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra (Silvestre, 90); Nani (Giggs, 76), Scholes (Fletcher, 76), Carrick, Park; Ronaldo, Tevez. Substitutes not used: Kuszczak (gk), Anderson, O'Shea, Welbeck.

Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes; Zambrotta, Puyol, Milito, Abidal; Xavi, Touré (Gudjohnsen, 88), Deco; Messi, Iniesta (Henry, 60), Eto'o (Krkic, 72). Substitutes not used: Pinto (gk), Edmilson, Sylvinho, Thuram.

Referee: H Fandel (Germany).