The Europa League may not have the allure of the Champions League but the competition no longer seems to be a simple pathway into Europe's elite tournament for teams that are not good enough to merit a place based on prospects in their league.

Currently, there are more teams in the Europa League (5) that are at the top of their respective league tables than there are in the Champions League (4). This means that while the Champions League may have more pieces of the so-called pie to serve, the Europa League -- with teams like Barcelona, Juventus, Arsenal, Manchester United, Ajax, Sevilla and AS Roma all in contention -- also has match-ups to whet the appetite.

The most significant of these clashes of course is the marquee match-up between Manchester United and Barcelona, who just over a decade ago were locked in a tussle for continental supremacy.

They may be in humbler surroundings this time around, but both teams will be looking at their fixtures in the Round of 32 as a chance to rekindle the desire for trophies around the club.

Barcelona have already done that this season, having beaten Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, but Xavi has also had more than half-a-season in compared to Erik Ten Hag, who has secured a final of his own in the English League Cup in his first season in charge at Old Trafford.

For clubs going through crisis, trophies are certainly welcome. But success does not guarantee lasting positivity or results. The last time Manchester United won the Europa League, under Jose Mourinho in 2017, they never looked like a team that had figured out how to compete with the elites of Europe or even like a team that could sustain a push for the title. When the Red Devils reached the final of the 2021 Europa League, losing to Sevilla, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team looked the same; good enough for the Europa League, but nothing beyond that.

This time around, with both Manchester United and Barcelona showing that they are capable of not just bossing their way to wins but also grinding results out, the tie will serve as a true measure of their quality not just against top opponents, but also as a test case to see how their teams have adjusted to the exhilarating environment that only nights of European football offer.

In that case the onus will be more on Xavi, whose team crashed out of the Champions League group stages this season in disastrous fashion and have not had success in Europe since the Neymar-Suarez-Messi trident romped to the Champions League title in 2014-15.

Meanwhile, Arsenal, having recently lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, will be looking to maintain their push in the Premier League while also dreaming of a European trophy to add to their cabinet, which features a lone European Cup Winners' Cup from 1993-94.

At the other end of the spectrum are Juventus, a team that has been in steady decline since 2021 after an unparalleled run of dominance in Italy. Having finished fourth twice in the past two seasons, they now find themselves 10th in Serie A with 26 points after 21 games after being docked 15 points.

Given the bleak outlook of the future, especially when considering manager Massimiliano Allegri's recent comments that he wanted his team to get "40 points to avoid relegation", Juventus will perhaps be the team that will be putting all their eggs in the Europa basket this year.

In another year, that might have worked out more smoothly. But with so many champions and up-and-comers on the stage, nothing will come easy in the Europa League anymore. Not now, and perhaps not any time in the near future.