Classic Times Fantasy Football is back. We got two great games for you to play and £100K to be won

The Russians are coming. And while, considering the political climate, such a statement does not make comfortable reading, the good news is that this flexing of muscles from the East will take place on the sports field and be comparatively benign, even if the way Manchester United were outplayed by Zenit St Petersburg here last night indicated that the show of strength will be no less effective.

Zenit’s fluency in defeating the European champions in Monaco proved that last season’s victory in the Uefa Cup was no fluke and nor was the impressive showing of the national team in eliminating England from the European Championship.

Not even the late dismissal of Paul Scholes for deliberate handball, having been booked earlier for a standard rash tackle, could detract from Zenit’s triumph. Scholes became the first player to be dismissed in 35 years of the Uefa Super Cup when he illegally steered the ball into the net, but the real history was made by a first Russian success in this match, for it will surely not be the last.

Now there are TWO ways to feed your fantasy

We have built on last year's success of PlayTheGame by offering fantasy football managers double the fun this coming season

Multimedia

• Chelsea: On-the-job training

• Man United: You've been merked, Capello

• Reading: Is Lita's yesterday's man?

Related Links

• Berbatov deal a matter of urgency

• Zabaleta wants to be City slicker

The second goal said it all. Not just that it was a peach, or that it was a fair reflection of Zenit’s superiority at the time, but more that it was scored by a £24 million signing, Danny, a Portuguese forward formerly of Dynamo Moscow, the most expensive player in the history of Russian football and one who is indicative of its new wealth.

Russian technique has always been impressive. If the capacity to sign the best players, and the best managers to coach them is now added to that package, we could be witnessing the dawn of a new force in the European game. The threat to Premier League dominance may not come from La Liga or Serie A after all, but an entirely unexpected quarter.

Zenit are Russia’s first true super-club, backed by the fortune of Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world, with a 62,000 arena under construction that will be home to a squad that could one day be as expensively assembled as that of Chelsea or United.

Danny is the first, but he will not be the last, and his was a watershed goal in a watershed game. The next leap forward will come when a Russian club attract a significant player from a serious Western football nation, and that moment will not be long in coming, to judge by the speed of advancement.

Certainly, United appeared to be taken aback by the potential of their opponents and allowed Zenit’s intelligent forwards far too much space. Rio Ferdinand was particularly guilty. Fabio Capello, the watching England manager, must have left contented that he made the right choice about his England captain, if not entirely happy with the wider implication of what he saw. John Terry has his faults, but falling asleep at the wheel is not one of them.

Take Zenit’s second goal. There was little on when Danny received the ball in central midfield, but from that road to nowhere, he conjured a special match-winner, first running to the left and taking on Patrice Evra, then cutting wickedly inside, past Ferdinand, before leaving Edwin van der Sar, the goalkeeper, no chance with his finish.

There has always been a degree of disrespect about English attitudes to this tournament, but this was United’s best available team, with the possible exception of the preference for Gary Neville, returning tenaciously from injury, ahead of Wes Brown at right back, and there can be no excuses from Sir Alex Ferguson or his players.

Not even the smothering heat, considering that St Petersburg is hardly known for its warm winters. In the circumstances, then, Zenit’s win was entirely merited, and in the first 45 minutes they were a different class.