Barcelona have also lost a few important players, but in general Barcelona's defense looks better than Manchester United's, which could be decisive in this match. As we can see, it is difficult for any team to win all the time, surprises can always happen, or some kind of failure, like an own goal or the like, yesterday's Manchester United match, or the recent Real Madrid match is an example of this. But a good defensive game will be a good advantage for Barcelona.
According to stats, Barcelona defense is better than Manchester United defense.
Barcelona got 7 conceded goals in La Liga and
Manchester United got 28 conceded goals in Premier League. It is a very big difference and tells us something about domination of Barcelona in La Liga and wild struggle of Manchester United in Premier League. Ten Hag improved Manchester United and they climbed to a third position but they are not as strong as Barcelona.
However, in two direct matches between them, everything can happen and Manchester United have enough good players and power to beat Barcelona.
Competition in the Premier League and La Liga is clearly very much different. In the Premier League there are many quality clubs and the atmosphere of competition exceeds that of other leagues and is the world's spotlight football league. Whereas La Liga might only be a few clubs and Barcelona's position would be very easy even though Real Madrid is there.
In fact, currently neither Barcelona nor Man United has a specific standard of who will win. Both can play with a draw. Xavi's plus point is the stable balance of players and consistency this season. As for Erik Ten Hag, he still often has problems, such as in the match against Leeds his players were mentally shaken and what worries him the most are the players who are now not in the full main squad.