Arsenal drawn against AC Milan in Europa League last 16

A final look at the last-16 draw before we sign off...

Arsenal and AC Milan have met competitively on six previous occasions, notching up two wins apiece with two draws.

Milan won the 1994 European Super Cup over two legs, while Arsenal became the first English team to beat them at the San Siro in March 2008 when Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor both notched in an impressive 2-0 Champions League last-16 victory.

Their last meeting came in 2012, when Arsenal were battered 4-0 in Italy in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie before winning the reverse fixture 3-0, falling short of an epic comeback.

A very tough draw for Arsenal, who will travel to the San Siro on 8 March before welcoming Milan to north London seven days later.

The Rossoneri, now managed by former midfield pit bull Gennaro Gattuso, are unbeaten in their last 11 matches across all competitions and currently sit seventh in Serie A, 25 points adrift of leaders Napoli.

They are also in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.

AC Milan vs Arsenal

That leaves just one big clash remaining!

Borussia Dortmund vs Red Bull Salzburg

Sporting CP vs Viktoria Plzen

Still waiting for Arsenal...

Marseille vs Athletic Club Bilbao

CSKA Moscow vs Lyon

Atletico Madrid vs Lokomotiv Moscow

RB Leipzig vs Zenit

The Russian teams are now added to the mix...

Lazio vs Dynamo Kiev

After the usual technical explanation from Marchetti, we are finally ready to get underway...

Former Barcelona and France stalwart Eric Abidal, ambassador for the 2017-18 Europa League final in Lyon, will assist with the draw, as he has done throughout the campaign to date.

Uefa competitions director Giorgio Marchetti joins managing director of communications Pedro Pinto on stage.

He also offers the organisation's condolences to the family of the police officer that tragically died.

The live ceremony begins with Uefa condemning the shocking clashes in Bilbao last night.

Almost ready to go in Nyon...

Asked if his players just assumed the tie was already over after that emphatic away win, he added: "It's difficult to say. We prepared properly and in a serious way, but you have external circumstances.

"The fact we had won 3-0, the fact that we have a big game on Sunday, the fact that people subconsciously think they just have to turn up to win the game.

"Football doesn't work like that, we played against a good side and it's what you see in the FA Cup against teams. You can be in trouble every time you are not 100 per cent focused."

He was also full of praise for Graham Potter's Ostersunds, labelling them an "international team with top quality players" while acknowledging that the competition is obviously now set to get harder for his side.

Here is what Wenger had to say about Carabao Cup finalists Arsenal's disappointing second-leg performance against Ostersunds...

We were not at the races in the first half, the second half was much better - we should have scored a few goals.

Our energy was higher, our domination was consistent. We were in control in the second half.

In the first half we were in trouble and in danger. We were complacent, not focused and were open every time we lost the ball and had no ideas with the ball. That's why we were in trouble.

Overall we responded well and did the job to qualify, that's what you have to take from the night and that's it.

[quotes via football.london]

Thursday night's last-32 second-leg ties were marred by a police officer dying after suffering a heart attack following violent clashes between fans of Spartak Moscow and Athletic Club Bilbao in the Basque Country.

Dortmund striker Michy Batshuayi, on loan from Chelsea, also said that he heard "monkey noises in the stands" during that 1-1 draw with Atalanta at Mapei Stadium.

The teams drawn first will be at home in the first legs.

Last-16 ties will be played on Thursdays 8 and 15 March, with the exact schedule to be confirmed shortly after the draw itself.

A reminder that today's draw is open with no seeding or country protection, though teams from Russia and Ukraine cannot be paired together.

That means Dynamo Kiev will be involved in the first tie drawn regardless.

Per Uefa's official website....

The ball containing Dynamo Kyiv will be placed in a bowl, and a ball will then be selected from another bowl containing the 12 eligible teams.

That ball is then placed in the large bowl with Dynamo Kyiv to complete the first pairing.

The three Russian teams will then be added to the 11 remaining teams. The balls will be drawn one after another to form the pairings.

Atletico Madrid are the other real big-hitters left in the competition after they eased past FC Copenhagen, while Borussia Dortmund saw off the spirited challenge of Atalanta thanks to Marcel Schmelzer's late strike and AC Milan made light work of Ludogorets.

RB Leipzig also overcame Serie A leaders Napoli on away goals.

Here is the full list of teams included in today's draw:

Red Bull Salzburg, Viktoria Plzen, Arsenal, Lyon, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Lazio, AC Milan, Sporting CP, CSKA Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Dynamo Kiev

Good morning and welcome to IBTimes UK's live coverage of the draw for the last-16 of the 2017-18 Europa League, where Arsenal will discover their next opponents as they seek to win the continent's secondary club competition for the very first time.

The Gunners, who comfortably topped Group H ahead of Red Star Belgrade, Cologne and BATE Borisov, looked to be in cruise control in their round of 32 tie against plucky minnows Ostersunds FK following a 3-0 victory in Sweden and while a shock 2-1 home defeat last night was not enough to curtail their progress, it will have served as a sharp reminder that they simply cannot afford to be so complacent.

Arsene Wenger's side are now the only British interest left in this year's Europa League after Celtic followed up a deserved 1-0 win over Zenit Saint Petersburg with a crushing 3-0 reverse in Russia.

Today's proceedings - not overshadowed by a preceding Champions League draw - take place at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland and are scheduled to get underway at approximately 12.00 GMT (13.00 CET), but as usual I'm sure there will be no shortage of pomp and ceremony.

Stay tuned!