At the moment, the weakest teams in the Europa League are Midtjylland and Sevilla (quite ironically, the multiple winner of this tournament this season among the outsiders), the rest of the clubs are strong and some pairs are indistinguishable from the pairs in the Champions League (especially in the group stage). It is a pity that this tournament has a secondary status and there is no way to fix it, it greatly affects the atmosphere around the games - it is not as tense as in the Champions League.
The name given to it as a second tier competition in Europe is why people think it isnt a big competition but if look at The caliber of clubs competing in it then it is only juicy and entertaining just like the Uefa Champions League.
The game between Manchester United and Barcelona has always been a game of entertainment and this year wont be an exception. I will be cheering United in this game because all round they have a better team to me compared to Barcelona at the moment
Well, this is not a subjective opinion of people, but an objective fact: firstly, clubs that take places in the national championships below those which will participate in the Champions League participate in the Europa League. The second fact is more eloquent and humiliating for the Europa League: the losers of the Champions League group stage actually get into the 1/16 of the Europa League (play-offs for the right to get into 1/8). If we add here the smaller financial benefits from participation in the Europa League, then all this leads to the fact that the top clubs do not play in it "to the maximum" because they do not have sufficient motivation.