Villa must shoulder blame for their final day disaster

For the second time in a week, Manchester United ended a club's dreams of Champions League football.

- RICHARD JOLLY

This time, at least, it was not their own. Aston Villa will always have Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, the nights they shocked the European elite, the season they gatecrashed their way into the quarterfinals of the most prestigious tournament. But there will be no sequel: not immediately, anyway. The chorus of "Europe again" was a constant from their fans at Old Trafford. But it will be the Europa League, a third continental competition in as many seasons, rather than the Champions League again. A historic season ended in defeat and disappointment, anger and anticlimax, in regrets and recriminations.

Everton's win at Newcastle meant Villa would have only needed a draw against the worst Manchester United team in decades to finish fifth. Instead, they lost to a side with two points from their previous eight games, nothing to play for and a weakened team, who had not beaten anyone apart from the relegated trio since January and against a backdrop of protests against the owners, the Glazers. Villa made United look good, something United rarely accomplish in their own right, as what Ruben Amorim called a "disaster” of a season finished with the rarity of a win.