Europa League round of 32 draw: Manchester United vs Saint-Etienne, Tottenham vs Gent - as it happened

That just about does it for our live coverage of the draw for the last 32 of the 2016-17 Europa League. Stay tuned to IBTimes UK across the afternoon for reaction from Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho, who is due to give a press conference ahead of a midweek trip to Crystal Palace in around 20 minutes or so.

Goodbye for now.

It's a relatively gentle draw for Spurs, who avoid a daunting long journey to Eastern Europe and will instead make the short trip to northwest Belgium.

Fifth in the Jupiler Pro League, the Buffalos, managed by Hein Vanhaezebrouck, edged out Braga in the race to finish second behind dominant Shakhtar Donetsk in Group H.

United last met Saint-Etienne all the way back in the first round 1977-78 European Cup Winners' Cup. Dave Sexton's side drew 1-1 in France, where fan violence led to them initially being thrown out of the competition.

However, as noted by The Guardian, they were later reinstated on the condition that the return tie was played at least 200km away from Old Trafford. They eventually ran out 2-0 victors at Home Park in Plymouth thanks to goals from Stuart Pearson and Steve Coppell before losing 6-5 on aggregate to FC Porto.

So United draw French side AS Saint-Etienne, who currently sit eighth in Ligue 1 following yesterday's 1-0 win over Guingamp. Christophe Galtier's side went undefeated en route to the last 32, beating Anderlecht, Mainz and Gabala to the top of Group C with 12 points after three wins and as many draws.

The narrative in the build-up to this tie will be Pogba vs Pogba. One of Paul's two older brothers Florentin, a defender, has plied his trade at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard since 2012.

PAOK FC vs Schalke

Last tie coming up...

Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs Besiktas

AZ Alkmaar vs Lyon

Borussia Monchengladbach vs Fiorentina

FC Krasnodar vs Fenerbahce

FC Rostov vs Sparta Prague

Gent vs Tottenham

Olympiacos vs Osmanlispor

Celta Vigo vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Ludogorets vs FC Copenhagen

Villarreal vs Roma

Manchester United vs Saint-Etienne

Astra Giurgiu vs Genk

Anderlecht vs Zenit

Legia Warsaw vs Ajax

Athletic Club [Bilbao] vs APOEL FC

After a dull explanation of the technical procedures and a reminder of the seeded/unseeded teams, we are off and running.

Hold onto your hats...

Teams from Russia and Ukraine will still be kept apart....

Patrik Andersson, a former defender for Malmo, Blackburn, Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, joins Marchetti.

The 45-year-old ex-Sweden stalwart is an ambassador for the 2017 final in his native country.

Uefa's director of competitions Giorgio Marchetti is on stage and we are almost ready to get underway.

A reminder that the 2017 Europa League final is set to be played at Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

While we wait for proceedings to get underway, let's provide a quick reminder of the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Arsenal's reward for topping their group for the first time since 2012 is another two-legged clash with Bayern Munich. It is the third time in five seasons that they have been paired with the German giants.

Manchester City and holders Real Madrid should certainly be relatively pleased with their lot, although Leicester face a tricky test against Jorge Sampaoli's Sevilla. Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain also meet for what feels like the 1,000th time.

Southampton, of course, are not in the hat for today's draw.

The Saints needed to win or play out a goalless draw against Hapoel Be'er Sheva in order to qualify from Group K behind Sparta Prague, although a stoppage-time effort from Virgil van Dijk was not enough to seal their passage through at St Mary's after the Israeli champions had taken a 78th-minute lead through Maor Buzaglo with their first shot on target.

Despite manager Mauricio Pochettino's insistence that the competition is important rather than a hindrance, Tottenham will be bitterly disappointed to be dropping back into the Europa League so soon.

Spurs returned to the Champions League for the first time since 2011 after finishing third in the English top-flight last term, but set the tone for a disappointing campaign with an opening home defeat to Monaco.

Having returned from a long trip to CSKA Moscow with three points and also secured a goalless draw at Bayer Leverkusen, their Wembley curse then continued with a woeful 2-1 loss to the Bundesliga outfit.

Another defeat to Monaco sealed their premature elimination, although Tottenham did at least finish on a high note by sweeping CSKA to ensure that they were not knocked out of Europe altogether.

So how did each English club reach the first knockout round?

It was not all plain sailing for Manchester United, who eventually finished second in Group A courtesy of goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic that sealed a comfortable 2-0 victory over Ukrainian debutants Zorya Luhansk in the freezing temperatures of Odessa last week.

The Red Devils, who beat FC Midtjylland at this stage last season before losing 3-1 on aggregate to rivals Liverpool in the last 16, began the campaign with an insipid defeat to Feyenoord and only narrowly beat Zorya at home before thrashing Fenerbahce on Robin van Persie's return to Old Trafford.

They lost the return fixture in Istanbul after failing to prevent an early wonder goal from Moussa Sow, but recovered to ease beyond Feyenoord and Zorya in their last two fixtures.

Key provisional dates

First-leg ties - Thursday 16 February 2017

Second-leg ties - Thursday 23 February 2017

Here are the eight teams that are transferring from the Champions League to Europe's secondary club competition...

Tottenham, Besiktas, FC Copenhagen, Lyon, Borussia Monchengladbach, Legia Warsaw, Ludogorets Razgrad, FC Rostov

It is certainly worth noting that no two teams from the same association can be paired together at this stage, meaning that Manchester United and Tottenham, who faced off in the Premier League at Old Trafford yesterday afternoon, will not meet in the last 32.

There can also be no ties between teams who competed in the same Europa League group. United will, therefore, definitely avoid Fenerbahce.

Joining the 12 group winners and runners-up in today's draw are the eight sides that finished third in their respective Champions League groups.

The top-four ranked of those teams are seeded alongside those aforementioned group winners, while the remaining four are unseeded.

Seeded teams: Ajax, APOEL, Besiktas, Fenerbahce, Fiorentina, Genk, Copenhagen, Lyon, Osmanlispor, Roma, Schalke, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sparta Prague, St-Etienne, Tottenham, Zenit

Unseeded teams: Anderlecht, Astra Giurgiu, Athletic Club, AZ Alkmaar, Borussia Monchengladbach, Celta Vigo, Gent, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Krasnodar, Legia Warsaw, Ludogorets, Manchester United, Olympiacos, PAOK, Rostov, Villarreal

Good morning and a very warm welcome to IBTimes UK's live coverage of the draw for the next round of the Europa League, where English heavyweights Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are among the clubs set to learn their last-32 fate at Uefa headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Today's event follows hot on the heels of the draw for the first knockout phase of the Champions League, with proceedings set to get underway at around 12.00 GMT (13.00 CET).