Barcelona, who came to play in the Europa League after being knocked out of the group stage of the Champions League, faced a setback here as well. They lost 2-1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday in the second leg of the knockout stage play-offs.The result was 2-2 at Camp Nou in the first leg. United entered the last sixteen with a 4-3 lead over the two legs.Barcelona was eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League last season as well. Their last exit from the knockout stages of the Champions League in two consecutive seasons was in the 1998-99 season. The last time they did not play in a European competition was in March that season before this.Last season, Barcelona went out after losing to Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. This time they stopped before. But after the match, Shavi told Movistar Plus that his team has improved this time."Obviously it's a big disappointment (this loss), but I believe we played better this season than last season. At least this time I fought! This season we have had to play against big and strong clubs like Bayern Munich, Inter Milan (in the Champions League) and now Manchester United. We weren't good enough though, couldn't play at their level."