Last season saw Barcelona terribly disappointing. Beside finishing only 3rd in the La-Liga, they were also eliminated rather early from the Champions League. This brought a huge change to the club, with Frank Reijkaard leaving and Joep Guardiola taking his place.
The Catalan side impressed in their pre-season matches, but already suffered 2 defeats in official matches (one to Numancia in the La-Liga and one to Wisla Krakow in the Champions League preliminary round).
Bottom Line: We see no option for Barcelona but qualifying from their group, as they are the best team there - by far.