You cannot be counting Barcelona as favourites to win the Europa League when they have not overcome Manchester United that is a big challenge for them. If you want to count favourites, it will.be fine you mention both of them because anyone that won between Manchester United and Barcelona may likely get to the finals of the Europa League for this season. It is unfortunate that the two big teams met early
There is nothing that is very unfortunate when two big teams meet early because precisely that will make the Europa League more exciting from the start even though one of them will lose early. Because this season's Europa League has been inhabited by more big teams and it's not only Barcelona and Manchester United, but there are still others as well so some of the matches might be even more exciting.
Previously, the Europa League was only a league that was rarely paid attention to, but with the existence of several big teams everyone would move to watch this league. Surely the most awaited match is Man united against Barcelona, both of them have history in the champions league, but this time they will meet in the European league which they should not be in. It is likely that Barcelona will still be the favorite to win in this match, the quality of Barcelona's players is slightly above Man United.