Neville expects United to impress

Gary Neville says there is "no excuse" for Manchester United FC not performing when they meet FC Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Super Cup as they look to heed the lessons of their last appearance in Monaco.

Dramatic successf
In 1999, United arrived in the principality as the champions of Europe having beaten FC Bayern München in dramatic circumstances at Camp Nou. Although the likes of Neville and Paul Scholes were selected to face S.S. Lazio – the last UEFA Cup Winners' Cup champions to contest the fixture – Sir Alex Ferguson rested Ryan Giggs and Dwight Yorke and fielded three young substitutes in the second half. Inexperience told, with Chilean Marcelo Salas scoring the only goal to prompt wild celebrations from the Lazio players which irked the United manager and left him promising not to make the same mistake twice.

Trophy incentive
Neville, who could captain United against Zenit after overcoming an ankle injury, said: "I played in the game nine years ago and beforehand we probably didn't realise the importance of it. We had league games the Tuesday before and Monday after which were the priority, but that's not the case this time so there's no excuse. We have to go out and win it. It's a trophy that many of us have never won, and that's an incentive for us."

Sole winner
Giggs is the only player in either camp to have lifted the Super Cup, having come on for 20 minutes when United beat FK Crvena Zvezda in 1991, and Neville believes victory tonight can provide the spur for another successful campaign in Europe as the Red Devils attempt to become the first UEFA Champions League winners to successfully defend the trophy. "It's a big challenge to win the competition any season but the way this team's set up, and the players we have, means we're so unpredictable in the way we attack," said the 33-year-old.

Consistency
"For me, looking on last season, that was the main difference: we had so many players who could change games in attack," continued the right-back. "We have a young squad and there's no reason why we can't do it. Winning the league and Champions League puts us into competitions like this and we have much to look forward to. Our intention is always to win and to do that we have to go out and perform as a team. We've done it over the last two seasons consistently and we now have to do it this year. If we continue to perform there's no reason why we can't be successful."