Manchester United dashed Aston Villa’s Uefa Cup hopes with a dominant display which was spoiled by the dismissals of Darren Fletcher and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Villa’s European quest was derailed in the fourth minute when Ronaldo fired in a 20-yard opener after poor defending.

Ruud van Nistelrooy made it two soon after when he picked up Paul Scholes’ pass and converted from a tight angle.

Villa had two efforts disallowed late on, but luck was not on their side as Newcastle finished fifth.

With a place in Europe at stake for Villa, the onus was firmly on the home side to attack United from the start.

Yet David O’Leary’s men failed to gain any kind of forward momentum and they were put firmly on the back foot by a marauding Manchester United.

Villa’s defence was in tatters and the first to exploit their unease was Ronaldo.

Ulises de la Cruz’s wayward header fell into the path of Fletcher, who picked out the Portugal winger.

Ronaldo burst forward and, with no-one closing him down, unleashed a thumping shot which flew past the poorly-positioned Thomas Sorensen at the near post.

Instead of regrouping, Villa’s defence was caught out again, this time Liam Ridgewell failing to cut out Scholes’ crossfield pass.

The ball dropped at the feet of Van Nistelrooy, who surged past a sprawling Sorensen and poked in United’s second from a tight angle.

The visitors limited Villa to a couple of half-chances before the break, the best of which Juan Pablo Angel blasted over from close range.

After the interval, Villa upped the tempo and Angel was unlucky not to be awarded at least one penalty with Wes Brown unfairly impeding the Colombian striker in the area.

However, referee Rob Styles waved away the appeals and United almost snatched a third on the counter-attack.

Van Nistelrooy wriggled past the Villa defence and picked out Giggs, who somehow contrived to balloon the ball over the crossbar from four yards out.

Villa’s Gareth Barry wasted a chance by firing straight at Tim Howard, who otherwise had one of his quieter afternoons in the United goal.

United were reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes remaining when Fletcher was sent off for a second bookable offence, and Ronaldo followed him soon after, also for a second yellow card.

Other than the two dismissals, Sir Alex Ferguson will be pleased that his team produced a solid display ahead of next Saturday’s FA Cup Final with Millwall.

And while Villa boss O’Leary will be disappointed to have missed out on a Uefa Cup spot, the progress made during this season should mean the Midlands club will be challenging for Europe next May.