Manchester United beat Barcelona 1:2 in the Europa League and advance to the round of 16 (Sport1)
Barcelona does seem to be on the safe way to the championship in Spain after four years, but in the European arena they ended a horrible season last night (Thursday).
The Blaugrana, who were already kicked out of the Champions League after the group stage, lost yesterday 2:1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford and also ended their path in the Europa League playoffs after 4:3 in the summary of the games.
In total, Xavi's team played eight games in Europe this year and achieved only two victories, both over Viktoria Plzen.
They lost to Bayern Munich twice and against Inter and Manchester United recorded a draw and a loss.
Poor balance in Europe.
Lewandowski with De Jong (Photo: Reuters)
"We are much better than last season," Xavi tried to console himself, "we have to criticize ourselves and learn to improve, we are not satisfied - but we are much stronger than last season. We met strong teams this season and we will try again in Europe next season."
The coach added: "Manchester United is very physically strong. Their first goal, which made it 1:1, hurt us. We had opportunities before that to go up 0:2 and we missed. Our first half was very good, but the second not so much. It's a big disappointment because we felt we could do things, but we played against a strong opponent. With Pedri and Gabi tonight, I think things would have been different."
Sergio Busquets was a little more direct than his coach.
"We have to learn how to play in Europe," said the veteran midfielder, "we have to criticize ourselves and realize that maybe it was too much for us. We lost and were kicked out, but I don't think it will affect us in the league."
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