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Celtic’s revival under Martin O’Neill came juddering to a halt in Jutland after they were beaten 3-1 by Midtjylland. The Hoops’ hopes of prolonging their Europa League campaign into the knockout stages suffered a major blow as the Danes hammered in three goals in eight first-half minutes.
The teenage substitute Callum Osmand won a late penalty which Reo Hatate converted, but the 19-year-old was then taken off on a stretcher in tears after suffering what appeared to be a hamstring injury on a horrible evening for the Scottish champions.
Celtic actually had the first shot on goal after just 25 seconds, with Johnny Kenny firing straight at home keeper Elias Rafn Olafsson. It was Celtic’s only effort on target for the next 80 minutes. They were quickly under the pump. The former Rangers right-back Kevin Mbabu was denied twice by Kasper Schmeichel and Mads Bech Sørensen guided Osorio’s free-kick over the crossbar. The hosts came even closer when Philip Billing dummied a low cross for Cho Gue-sung, who forced a point-blank save from Schmeichel, with Anthony Ralston taking the rebound right in the face.
Schmeichel, back on home soil a day after his 39th birthday, was at full stretch to tip a 20-yard volley from Pedro Bravo wide. But he could only hold back the tide for so long and the dam finally burst following the resulting corner. Celtic cleared the initial cross but Mikel Gogorza reached the byline again and his chip across goal was nodded in by Martin Erlic.
Less than two minutes later Midtjylland doubled their lead when Arne Engels and Ralston let Gogorza squirm in between them and whip a low drive past Schmeichel. It was three by half-time from a Sørensen long throw, the exciting Guinea-Bissau forward Djú collecting the second ball and curling his 18th goal of the season inside the far post.
O’Neill threw on Osmand at half-time and the 19-year-old earned his side a penalty when he was brought down by Erlic. But Hatate’s spot-kick could not mask what was a chastening evening for Celtic, while Osmand’s late injury dampened the mood even further.
Nottingham Forest remain unbeaten away from home in the Europa League after they battled to a goalless draw with Sturm Graz at the Merkur Arena. Sean Dyche also continued his undefeated start in Europe since he took over at Forest and ensured they took a point back to England after their 2-0 victory over Porto in their last game in the competition.
Forest spurned a golden opportunity to make their early dominance count when Morgan Gibbs-White had a first-half penalty saved by Oliver Christensen after Maurice Malone had a goal ruled out for offside.
The second half turned into a scrappy stop-start affair as both sides failed to register a shot on target after the interval but Nicolás Domínguez was denied the winner in stoppage time by the crossbar.
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Arjan Malic brought down Williams on the left edge of the box which handed Forest the first opportunity, Domínguez pulling it back to James McAtee who dragged his first-time effort just wide of a post. Forest controlled the early proceedings in Austria and almost had the opener but Ryan Yates had a close-range header cleared off the line by Malic in the 17th minute.
Sturm Graz thought they had taken the lead before the half-hour mark with their first foray forward. Otar Kiteishvili’s run put the Forest defence on the back foot and his strike was parried by John Victor into the path of Malone who tapped into an empty net but was marginally offside.
Forest were given a chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot after Williams struck the ball off the hand of Emanuel Aiwu. Gibbs-White assumed the responsibility but his spot-kick was stopped by Christensen who went low to his left to keep it out.
Dyche brought Gibbs-White off for the defender Murillo with 13 minutes to play as Forest set their stall out for a point away in Europe. Forest almost snatched victory at the end when Domínguez let rip with a firecracker outside the box but he was denied by the crossbar.
