It was deja vu for Barcelona at Old Trafford on Thursday, as Manchester United once again proved to be the bane of their European ambitions.
After a fierce contest, the Red Devils emerged triumphant, securing a 2-1 victory that left the Catalans nursing their wounds again after another continental failure.
Last season they also ended up in the Europa League playoffs after finishing third in their Champions League group. However, they were knocked out of Europe's second-tier competition in the quarterfinals after a 3-2 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou.
It was the first time since 1998-99 under Louis van Gaal that Barca failed to reach the Champions League knockout stages in two consecutive years and only the fifth occasion they have been eliminated in the group stage in the last three decades.
After a glorious run from 2005-15, winning four Champions League titles, Barcelona has failed to get past the last 16 in Europe's elite competition in the previous three seasons after being humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the 2019-20 quarterfinals.
They have reached the semis only once since winning the Champions League in 2014-15.
Barca fell into a financial crisis between disappointments exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restricted by La Liga's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, they could not resign club great Lionel Messi, who left as a free agent for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
Crashing out of Europe again is a dent in Barca's finances. Its perilous state led the club's board to sell a stake in their TV rights and agree to sell their audio-visual division as part of several financial levers.
In this year's budget, Barcelona's board predicted the team would reach the Champions League quarterfinals and win the La Liga title.
It was a bold and over-optimistic view, with Barca now facing a massive blow to their 2022-23 income after exiting the Champions and Europa League.
This year should have been one of recovery as a revamped Barcelona side, spearheaded by new signing Robert Lewandowski, was expected to be heading in a new direction.
They are top of La Liga with a lead of eight points over their bitter rivals, Spanish and European champions Real Madrid.
However, their dreadful European results have taken some of the shine off their domestic form.
"It's a big disappointment, but I believe we were better this season than in the previous one; at least we showed up," Xavi told Movistar Plus after Thursday's loss to Manchester United.
"We played against top-level clubs like Bayern Munich, Inter Milan (in the Champions League), and now Manchester United and could not be up to their level.
"Now what is left to us is to be humble and self-evaluate how we can be better to compete at the highest level in Europe next season.
