Great draw that Arsenal and Barcelona are linked. I don't remember them ever playing against each other for the Europa League or the Uefa Cup in the past. They have played against each other quite a few times in the CL. I can remember a game that Arsenal came to 0-1 in Barcelona, but in the end Barcelona won 4-1. I also find it difficult to pass judgment on Xavi. Has he done well or not yet? The game is better but he will have to start winning prizes. Last year against Frankfurt they gave away both games.
It's too early to talk about that, because now Barcelona must beat Manchester United first to advance to the next round. Manchester United is not an opponent that will be easily beaten by Barcelona, even though in the past they have been superior to Manchester United. Barcelona have a big challenge ahead, they have to perform their best to beat the better team under Erik Ten Hag.
Even though Barcelona managed to beat Manchester United is not necessarily able to win the Europa League Trophy, there are still other challenges that must be passed step by step. Last season's experience was a lesson that was difficult for Barcelona to forget, when people thought Barcelona would lift the UEL Trophy, a surprise instead occurred in the final, Barcelona lost to Frankfurt which made all predictions fail.
Lol, even Barcelona didn't make it to the semi-finals in the Europa League last season as Barcelona were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Eintracht Frankfurt and not in the final. Even worse, Barcelona in the play-off phase this season will play against Manchester United and in fact it is still far from reaching the quarter-finals.
If at this moment Barcelona lose by Manchester United then of course it will be a very bad result because they were eliminated from the Europa League even only in the play-off round.
Indeed, I also consider Erik ten Hag to be able to take Manchester United to the next phase of the Europa League this season.
But even so I still hope Xavi can fix the problems the team had when playing in the Europa League, because if Xavi fails again this season then obviously it is a bad achievement for Xavi for Barcelona in European tournaments.