BY OLIVER HOLT ( The Times )

MANCHESTER United survived a white-knuckle ride in the San Siro last night when a mixture of desperate defending, extravagant good fortune and a late, late goal from their substitute, Paul Scholes, allowed them to cling on to their dream of winning the European Cup in May.

Scholes's goal, after an intelligent nod-down from Andy Cole in the 88th minute, lent a misleading gloss of comfort to a 3-1 aggregate victory over Internazionale that took them through to the semi-finals, where they will meet Juventus, Dynamo Kiev or Bayern Munich. Until Scholes scored, though, United had been teetering on the brink of a devastating defeat as Inter pressed desperately for a second goal that would have taken the tie into extra time in an increasingly feverish and partisan stadium. Ze Elias was guilty of one particularly glaring miss in the dying minutes that brought howls of despair from the stands and left the Brazilian prostrate.

United deserve a little luck after the ill-fortune that has dogged them in the European Cup in the past, but even though this win will have given them the psychological boost that comes with edging past an Italian side, the overriding emotion of Alex Ferguson, their manager, was relief.

"I didn't even see Scholes's goal go in," Ferguson said. "I had fainted by then. I did think we had some lucky moments, but sometimes you need them in football. We rode our luck in those moments.

"The nature of our club is that we always make it as difficult as it possibly can be. I may need a triple bypass after that. I don't care who we get now. I am just so happy to be in the semi-finals. We could get Melchester Rovers and I wouldn't mind."

When the final whistle went, Ferguson had bounded towards the centre circle to embrace Gilles Veissiere, the French referee, an act that provoked much derision from the Italian media, who were outraged by the decision not to award Inter a first-half penalty after Peter Schmeichel's reckless challenge on Ivan Zamorano.

Schmeichel redeemed himself with a series of fine saves, but United had to endure 27 minutes of agonising tension after Nicola Ventola had dragged Inter back into the tie with a 63rd-minute goal.

That goal had sent Inter's desperate fans into a frenzy of excited anticipation, but after Ze Elias had pulled his chance wide, David Beckham sent a deep cross spiralling to the back post, Andy Cole nodded it across goal and Scholes poked it past Gianluca Pagliuca from ten yards.

The United supporters behind the goal in the Curva Sud had brought a banner with them emblazoned with the message "We're too sexy for Milan", but they began to regret their bravado within the opening quarter of an hour.

First, Inter were denied what appeared to be entirely justified claims for a penalty when Zamorano, who had sneaked inside Berg and poked the ball past Schmeichel, was sent crashing to the ground by a flying bodycheck from the goalkeeper, but the referee waved play on. Schmeichel rubbed salt into Inter's wounds by hurling himself low to his right to push Zamorano's shot away a few seconds later.

A minute after that it was Berg who came to United's rescue, hooking a cross from Zanetti away from the flying Zamorano on the goalline after a fine through-ball from Baggio had freed the Argentinian. Inter, inspired by Baggio's bursts of creativity, still pressed forward and midway through the half their misfortune continued. This time it was the woodwork that came to United's aid when Zanetti's right-foot drive shook Schmeichel's post.

Inter, frustrated by their bad luck, began to grow fractious and Simeone made a crude challenge on Beckham that should have resulted in a yellow card. It was his last contribution to the game: hobbling heavily, he was replaced by Ze Elias.

Ronaldo gave one tantalising glimpse of the talent that has been imprisoned by creaking bones when he turned Stam sweetly on the edge of the area ten minutes before half-time. Berg flung himself to his right to block the Brazilian's shot. Towards the end of the half, though, United began to emerge from the siege and eight minutes before the interval Cole raced on to a low cross from Johnsen, who had been booked for some penalty area wrestling with Bergomi. Cole had to stretch to meet it and lifted it just over the bar from ten yards.

At the start of the second half, Schmeichel denied Inter by fair means instead of foul. Ronaldo, who had looked a pathetic, forlorn figure apart from that single turn, found real space for the first time when Baggio's pass released him in the box. He advanced on Schmeichel but hit his right-foot shot too close to the goalkeeper, who blocked it with his right hand.

There was another alarm for United in the fiftieth minute, when Ronaldo tumbled theatrically to the ground after the flimsiest of challenges from Gary Neville. Once more there were frenzied Inter appeals for a penalty, but this time the referee was correct to insist that play should continue.

It seemed that United had weathered the worst of the storm when, on the hour, Ronaldo wandered disconsolately to the touchline, to be replaced by Ventola. But within four minutes United were ruing the introduction of the substitute and clinging on to their aggregate lead for dear life.

There seemed little danger when Cauet, hardly the most creative of the Inter players, took the ball forward in the 63rd minute, but he took United by surprise by lofting a pass into the area. Keane seemed to have it covered, but he missed it as he tried to hook it away and Ventola clipped it calmly past Schmeichel.

Inter's siege grew in ferocity and desperation. A shot by Zanetti whistled narrowly wide in the 78th minute and Ze Elias did likewise seven minutes from the end when he was clean through. United, though, clung on and Scholes's belated intervention put the game beyond Inter's reach.

Internazionale (3-4-3): G Pagliuca - F Colonnese, G Bergomi (sub: F Moriero, 70min), T West - J Zanetti, D Simeone (sub: Ze Elias, 32), B Cauet, M Silvestre - I Zamorano, Ronaldo (sub: N Ventola, 60), R Baggio.

Manchester United (4-4-2): P Schmeichel - G Neville, H Berg, J Stam, D Irwin - D Beckham, R Keane, R Johnsen (sub: P Scholes, 77), R Giggs (sub: P Neville, 82) - D Yorke, A Cole.

Referee: G Veissiere (France).