For the Champions League, it looks like Manchester United can still survive at least until the quarter-finals or even the semi-finals if Erik ten Hag and the players can show their best.
But when Mbappe can actually join Real Madrid this summer, Real Madrid's strength will increase significantly, especially for the attack line, maybe even sharper to penetrate the enemy's defense.
For La Liga, Real Madrid has become the king who rotates with Barcelona, maybe the nickname of the king is more appropriate in La Liga, not the Champions League.
Right now I'm not going to go so far as to talk about whether or not they'll be able to perform at their best in the Champions League, because I have to first see how they shape up in the actual competition. Indeed now we have seen their performances in pre-season matches, but for me it is not a real measure for anyone whether they will perform well or not. This applies to all clubs that will participate in the Champions League later, not just the 2 clubs being discussed here.
I wouldn't say no to today's predictions either, because surely we're going to have different things to say.
I am of a belief that any team could beat any team, there is really no reason that Real or Barcelona or United could not beat each other. In the end Barcelona looks much better than last year on paper, and they have showed how good they could be against Madrid as well but that was a friendly.
I believe that they will be better than last season at UCL as well, lets see how it goes first and if they actually do play better like expected, that would be something that is much better. I believe however that we can't really make it work some other way, it is just not going to end up any different. I believe that the best thing for them would be focusing on league and cup, if they can get that double, then UCL would be forgiven.