5 good reasons Which show Barca's United defeat seems 'planned' to some extent

As time goes, Barcelona's Thursday defeat to Manchester United no longer seems surprising. Moreover, Barca could've consciously saved some energy to focus on important La Liga clashes ahead.

Here are some other indications that the Catalans treated the Europa League encounters... a bit carelessly.

Dropping your most in-form centre-back - Andreas Christensen - and replacing speedy Alejandro Balde with Jordi Alba is not what you do ahead of a truly important European clash.

Indeed, Marcos Alonso scored a goal, but he also made a few defensive mistakes the Dane would've likely prevented.

Xavi actually used the word 'rotation' in the mixed zone before the game. United used their best eleven and only wanted to win – the difference in attitude seemed clear.

Barca usually pay much attention to the team's yellow-card record, trying to avoid unnecessary fouls to keep their best players in action.

Gavi was as aggressive as usual in the first leg, knowing that he would miss the second match if he got booked. His yellow came as no surprise – and he received it already after Pedri suffered an obviously serious setback.

Would Gavi act the same way ahead of, say, the second leg of the Champions League last 16? I can't imagine this happening.

Already before the first game, Xavi made it clear that it would be too difficult to win the Europa League, stating that Barcelona were not the favourites to win it and that, in particular, beating Manchester United would be a hard task.

Also ahead of the home leg, Xavi said that 'everything will be decided at Old Trafford', instantly denying that Barca are capable of securing a confident win at Camp Nou. Not the best way to inspire the team, to be honest.

On Saturday, the Barca boss said that the most frustrating thing about the season is the Champions League elimination, quickly denying that the United loss strongly influenced the locker-room atmosphere.

Of course, there were words about some disappointment, but it still didn't seem to be a big deal.

Instead of putting more players upfront in the final minutes of the second leg, Xavi only exploited 3 substitution slots, using Alonso as his final sub.

I can't say Barca looked really active in the stoppage time. Despite coming up with one goalscoring chance, they did not try to take many risks and kept starting their attacks with short passes right from Marc-Andre ter Stegen's area as time was passing by.

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Another European loss may hurt, but it seems like Barca were well-prepared for such a scenario, shifting their focus on a more tangible La Liga and Copa del Rey success instead. Of course, such attitude is controversial, but it's also about prioritising things right during an eventful season.

United simply wanted it more.