Ignore the league position, the drone of the plane buzzing the ground in the opening stages, the fact that Manchester United went behind after 12 minutes and have the European Champions as their next opponents, and this was quite a pleasant stroll in the warm spring sunshine for beleaguered David Moyes and his players.

Of course that is quite a lot to put out of mind, but it could have been worse. United could have prepared for the visit of Bayern Munich by losing to a team thrashed 4-1 on their own ground by Stoke City last week, but they came from behind as they have done so many times in the past and at least spared the Old Trafford hierarchy any more abuse from dissatisfied supporters.

There was evidence of support for the United manager, both in the low-level booing that greeted the aerial message and warm if not quite enthusiastic applause when Moyes walked along the touchline to take his seat. Yet the atmosphere was muted throughout. When the Villa fans were not chanting "There's only one David Moyes" or asking the United manager to give them a wave, they were correctly observing that the stadium resembled a library. "The crowd was great, it was brilliant the way they got behind the club and the team," Moyes said. After the week he has had, the manager is entitled to exaggerate slightly. The noise levels inside the ground were never deafening, though what noise the United fans made was appreciative. There was no hint of protest or terrace revolt, and these days that probably counts as music to the manager's ears.

This was not the most barnstorming of comebacks for the simple reason that Villa never looked like repeating their feat of a fortnight ago when they beat Chelsea. The team that capitulated so meekly to Stoke turned up instead, and from the moment Wayne Rooney equalised Ashley Westwood's opening goal, after 20 minutes, it was clear there was not going to be an upset. There might have been, Christian Benteke missed two glorious close-range chances barely a minute apart before Juan Mata capped an impressive display with his first goal for United, but though Paul Lambert sets up his sides well for away matches, Villa never seemed hungry enough to take anything out of the game. Anyone who did not know any different would have assumed they were watching an end of season affair between two mid-table sides with nothing to play for. Apart from Villa's slight but nagging relegation worry, that is not far from the truth, but United's next game could be end of season in a wholly different sense. As David James remarked rather fatuously in his round-up for BT Sport, United will notice the difference between Bayern Munich and Aston Villa.

Ashley Young, jeered throughout by the Villa fans, gave the ball away for the first goal just as the aeroplane hum was dying away. Rafael was suddenly presented with Gabriel Agbonlahor surging towards goal and he brought him down on the edge of the area. Westwood cleverly sent his free-kick through the hole in the wall where United had negligently allowed two Villa players to stand, and though David de Gea got a hand to the ball, it was insufficient to keep the shot out. United did not fall to pieces, but in a similar manner to the way they played for an hour in the Manchester derby, they diligently worked their way back into the game and this time found greater reward. Shinji Kagawa's cross and Mata's running off the ball allowed Rooney to level the scores with a well-placed header, then when Kagawa set up Mata for a shot on the stroke of the interval, Leandro Bacuna took the forward's legs away before he made contact with the ball. It was a clear penalty and Rooney scored with a confident spot kick.

Benteke then squandered his two opportunities to put Villa back in the game, first with an air shot from a couple of yards out then with a header over the bar when Marc Albrighton's cross had picked him out wonderfully. "We should have been back in it but I don't want to be too critical of Christian," Lambert said. "He has scored some vital goals for us in the past 18 months." Taking advantage of the reprieve, Moyes's oft-maligned big signings combined for the third goal, Marouane Fellaini finding Mata in space with the help of a rebound from Ron Vlaar for the Spain international to find the net for the first time since leaving Chelsea. United's two substitutes rounded off the rout, leaving the final scoreline a familiar one for Villa, when Javier Hernández reached an inviting cross from Adnan Januzaj. All smiles at Old Trafford for a change then, at least until Tuesday. An unexpected result in a knockout competition could still change everything for Moyes, just as it did for his predecessor 24 years ago, but this United manager is going to need his Mark Robins moment against the strongest team in Europe.