The draw for the Last 32 of the 2016/17 Europa League has been made, throwing up a number of interesting ties as the prize of a European trophy and a guaranteed place in next season's Champions League starts tobecome clearer on the horizon.
The 24 teams that qualified from the group stage were divided into winners and runners-up, while the eight teams joining from the Champions League were split between the seeded and unseeded pots by their performance in the other competition.
Clubs that progressed from the same Europa League group were kept apart, while country protection ensuring that teams from the same national association cannot be drawn together also remains in force at this stage.
Manchester United were only able to qualify from the group stage in second place and have been paired with seeded group winners Saint-Etienne from Ligue 1 in France.
Dropping out of the Champions League disappointingly early, Tottenham will fancy their chances of making it to the next round of this competition instead after drawing Gent.
Other big hitters in the competition include Roma, who will face last season's semi-finalists Villarreal, whileSchalke will meet PAOK from Greece andAjax were paired with Legia Warsaw.
UEFA Cup winners in 2009,Shakhtar Donetsk were the only side to win all six of their group games and will now faceLa Liga's Celta Vigo.
The draw for the 2016/17 Europa League Last 32 in full is as follows:
Athletic Bilbaovs APOEL
Legia Warsaw vs Ajax
Anderlecht vs Zenit St Petersburg
Astra Giurgiu vs Genk
Manchester United vs Saint-Etienne
Villarreal vs Roma
Ludogorets Razgrad vs Copenhagen
Celta Vigo vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympiacos vs Osmanlispor
Gent vs Tottenham Hotspur
Rostov vs Sparta Prague
Krasnodar vs Fenerbahce
Borussia Monchengladbach vs Fiorentina
AZ Alkmaar vs Lyon
Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs Besiktas
PAOK vs Schalke
First legs will be played on Thursday 16th February, with second legs to follow a week later on 23rd. Seeded teams have the benefit of playing the second leg of the tieat home.
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