Man United and Barcelona are rebuilding after falls from grace

There was a time when Manchester United and Barcelona only used to meet each other in the Champions League final.

It says a lot for both clubs’ fall, that tonight’s game will be for a place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League and not the biggest club game on the planet.

But despite the downgrade there is a sense that neither team will be back in Europe’s second competition next season – and that for all that the progress to transform fortunes off the pitch is slow, on it, both clubs are in the right hands and the future is as bright as it has been since a Sir Alex Ferguson-led United locked horns with a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona in the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011.

United’s future remains in limbo between a possible takeover by the British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe or by the Qatar sovereign wealth fund QIA. The nightmare reign of the Glazers appears to be approaching and whoever buys the club they will be coming in post-managerial meltdown.

The predictable merry-go-round of failed successors to Sir Alex Ferguson appears to have stopped spinning. United are on their eighth manager post-Ferguson but at last they have found someone who looks like he can build a new future on the pitch.

‘He is a great coach who has completely turned around the situation at United and it was not easy to do,’ said Xavi on Wednesday. He knows how tough it is. ‘You win a game and it buys you three days,’ he said earlier this season as his own crown began to weigh heavy.

Barcelona’s immediate financial problems would be solved overnight by a billionaire buy-out or a sell-up to a rich oil state. But the club is owned and run by the members and current president Joan Laporta has publicly ruled out changing the special status it shares in Spain with Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna.

There are more ways than one however to invite in private capital. The club sold 25 per cent of future TV rights for a declared €667m (£592m) and 49 percent of Barça Studios last summer. It loses them certain control and future income but it brought them a cash-flow boost not possible by other means.

The club’s wage bill remains out of control with €200m (£178m) still needing to be cut from it but once the departures of Antoine Griezmann and Gerard Pique are factored in they believe a only another €110m (£98m) will need to be found for squad spend to be back at 70 per cent of revenue.

The climb ahead may still be a steep one because they have the added headache next season of a temporary move to the city’s Olympic Stadium while work is carried out on renovating the Camp Nou. Estimates put the revenue lost, because of the smaller venue, at €93m (£83m) over the season.

But speaking last week Barcelona’s director of football Mateu Alemany said regarding a possible loosening of the financial reigns around the club: ‘We will try ensure that the league recognises our effort and is flexible with us.’

It’s on the pitch where both clubs know the secret lies - win the league this season and Barcelona will feel like putting a rising phoenix on the club badge. Just a return to the Champions League would feel like a huge victory at United.

Finishing above Manchester City would represent something even more significant, especially with the neighbours under investigation for the way in which they have stolen such a march on their city rivals.

Even as far down the bill as both clubs find themselves the old sheen can never be completely dulled.

‘They are two of the best clubs in the world. Barça were going through a bad time the last few seasons, and so were Manchester. All clubs go through difficult times, but we have to change the chip to get back to being the best,’ said Raphinha in the build-up to tonight’s game.

The pedigree of the rival and of his own club is not lost on the 26-year-old Brazilian who has only been playing in Europe for eight years. That enduring gloss has helped Barcelona, in particular, through their tribulations.

Chelsea wanted to sign Raphinha last summer but he chose Barcelona. Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde were in the same situation and made the same call.

Name alone doesn’t suffice forever though, and both clubs know you can be too long away from the top table.

The quickest road back to the top is marked with trophies and the Europa League counts as one, for all that it reminds both of their fall.

If either of these two stirring giants can lift it on May 31 at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, then it will go a long well to accelerating their return to the top.