Having got the Champions League preliminary rounds out of the way and the group draws done and dusted, the European football season gets officially under way with tonight's UEFA Super Cup clash between Manchester United and FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

Scheduled for Friday 29 August at 20:45 BST at Monaco's Stade Louis II, this year's final pits the English Premier League and Champions League winners with the lesser known UEFA Cup winners from St. Petersburg. However, the two sides are managed by two of the most experienced coaches in the world. Sir Alex Ferguson needs no introduction, his success firmly wedded to United's. In contrast, Dick Advocaat never seems to stay in one place for very long, having won league titles with PSV Eindhoven, Glasgow Rangers and Zenit. He has also coached the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and South Korea. So tonight we shall see whether depth or breadth wins out.

The last time United were in the Super Cup was in 1999 when they lost 1-0 to Lazio. English sides have traditionally taken these one-offs lightly - there has just never been the passion for either the Super Cup or the World Club Cup. However, Sir Alex was reported to be shocked at how overjoyed the Lazio players were after their victory and has vowed to take this show-piece more seriously. This is bad news for Zenit, who also seem likely to be without their star striker Andrei Arshavin - although I have a sneaking feeling that this may be a bit of gamesmanship on Advocaat's part and that the striker who so impressed at Euro 2008 will be there alongside Pavel Pogrebnyak, who missed the Euro finals through injury.

If Zenit play like they did in the UEFA Cup final then we should be in for a great game. Predictions are just a bit of fun, so here's mine: United to win 2-1 (although 3-2 would be better for the neutrals).