When Xavi returned to Barcelona as a coach, initially many people doubted Xavi abilities on the grounds that he did not have much experience as a coach and would have difficulty leading Barcelona because he had never managed any club in Europe. In fact, he managed to prove these doubts by presenting a trophy for Barcelona.
The same doubts also apply to Hansi Flick, I hope he is able to bring Barcelona to its best performance to give Real Madrid competition for the title and make El Clasico exciting again. Flick needs a minimum of two seasons to complete his project with Barcelona, Barcelona management must be patient through the process and support him who is trying to improve Barcelona quality again.
Xavi has less couching experience when he arrived at Barcelona but things at then were not as disorganized as it is now. The present situation in Barcelona is going to give Hansi a sleepless nights before he could be able to put things into order. The financial crisis inherited from the previous management will deprive him of having the right players he needs to work with.
Competing with Madrid? Perhaps, in the next two to three seasons we may see something like that again but definitely not this coming season judging from situation of both teams at the moment. The excitement of El Classico has been diminished long before now and worsen since the exit of Ronaldo and Messi.