It wasn't such a bad idea to try to build a fresh team to play with good team work without relying on Messi to carry the team. Indeed Barcelona's biggest flop this season was getting eliminated from the champions league, good thing they have another chance in the Europa league to rewrite the wrongs this season. If they can win the Europa league it could erase their failure in the champions league from the minds of the public.
I don't expect Barcelona to fail again this season in the Europa League even though its journey to qualifying for the last 16 is never easy. Beating Manchester United was a tough task, I never thought it would be easy but this season Barcelona and their players seem more experienced than ever.
Even I don't think Barcelona's failure in the Champions League this season hurts too much, that's because I recognize the superiority of Bayern Munich and Inter in the group stages. But after that failure, I think Barcelona are looking stronger now and they have to do something in the Europa League. I believe in their ability and in their players, so there is hope to win and qualify even if it means against Manchester United.
Something that has become a big question in my mind is why Barcelona has always been in the same group as Bayern Munich in the preliminary group in the Champions League for the last two seasons. At least this is a big consideration for me too, because that way it puts pressure on Barcelona who are currently forming a team after Messi's departure so that they continue to get enormous pressure.
But indeed, Barcelona should still be able to finish as runners up in the Champions League yesterday but it seems, Xavi is still not able to make the team's performance as good as the team's performance in the local league.
Apart from that, Barcelona's situation and conditions this season are indeed better even though they were eliminated from the Champions League but unfortunately, they still have a difficult opponent in the Europa League because they have to play against Manchester United.
Because last season when Barcelona experienced an increase in performance in La Liga, but in the Europa League in reality Barcelona were still eliminated by Eintracht Frankfurt. With these considerations, playing against Manchester United is not an easy job for Barcelona and I think their chances of winning are not very good.