Under Xavi, Barcelona have been eliminated twice from the Champions League and twice from the Europa League, while managing just four wins in 16 matches.

Although his side are top of the La Liga and doing well in the league, it just hasn’t translated to European football.

Barcelona were ousted out of the Champions League, and have now succumbed to the hands of Manchester United in the Europa League.

However, Xavi has insisted that his side have improved tremendously.

“It’s a big frustration, a pity because we were so excited. But we were facing a great opponent,” Xavi said after Barcelona’s 2-1 away loss to Manchester United.

“We have been much better than last season. We have shown character, we have played against strong teams like Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, and now Manchester United. We’ll try again next year.

“The difference with last year is that this year we competed. We competed against Inter and Bayern and today against Manchester United. They are a great team and it is difficult to compete against them. We should come back stronger next year.”