HOW did it come to this? Celtic somehow conspired to drop out of the Champions League qualifiers to a middling Midtjylland side, in a tie they were in control of for the vast majority of both legs.

How did it come to this? Well, the same way it always does. The same lack of foresight, the same lack of preparation, the same lack of adequate signings going into early season Champions League qualifiers that – as the Celtic board seem not to have noticed – could be worth tens of millions to their club.

And so it proved to be the same old story. Just as it was against Cluj, and just as it was against Ferencvaros, an undercooked, largely inexperienced and ultimately inadequate Celtic team showed that they just aren’t up to competing at this level at this stage of their campaign.

And it had all started so well. A solid first half showing was the platform for Callum McGregor to produce an unbelievable strike fit light up any occasion, and perhaps the Ange Postecoglou era.

An equaliser from Awer Mabil on the hour doused those flames though, and an early extra-time goal from Raphael Onyedika extinguished all hope. There never looked to be any way back for a Celtic team out of energy, out of ideas, and now out of the Champions League.

And it was all so avoidable. At so many points throughout these two legs, Celtic shot themselves in the foot. From Nir Bitton’s crazy sending off to Vasilis Barkas flapping at Midtjylland’s first-leg equaliser. Even here, substitute James Forrest blew a golden opportunity to bury the contest just before Midtjylland clawed themselves level. But the failings of those on who gave their lot on the pitch – particularly the younger Celtic players - are honest enough. The failings of those who put them in this position are what has ultimately led them to this point.

Given the lack of reasonable alternatives in almost every position, manager Postecoglou was left with only one major call, and he showed he wasn’t afraid to make it. The much-maligned goalkeeper Barkas was out, and Scott Bain was in.

Other than that, it was the same 10 outfield players who started the6-2 drubbing to West Ham at the weekend, leaving the same obvious concerns about their inexperienced back four.

Celtic were comfortable on the ball early on though, and David Turnbull was finding pockets of space. He swivelled to get a shot away from range that Jonas Lossl had to tip over, and Odsonne Edouard should have done better than blaze a sidefoot volley over unchallenged from the corner.

The game was very much following the pattern of the first leg in Glasgow, with Celtic dominating possession on Midtylland’s own patch.

Ryan Christie has looked revitalised since the arrival of his new manager, and he produced a lovely drop of the shoulder to find some space, and was only inches away from connecting with Edouard with his through ball.

Another notable change since Postecoglou's arrival is the increased aggression that has come into Stephen Welsh’s defending, but the youngster’s enthusiasm got the better of him as he needlessly slid through the back of Junior to pick up a cheap booking on halfway.

Tony Ralston was showing up well on the right, and he roared to the byline to whip in a great cross for Edouard to attack, only for the official to fall for a bit of playacting from Erik Sviatchenko, penalising the Celtic forward seemingly for disturbing the Dane’s hair.

For all that Celtic were looking pretty assured, the game hadn’t really sparked to life at either end, but given the nerves around the visiting defence prior to the game, Postecoglou would probably settle for the first-half showing from his men. Midtjylland hadn’t had as much as a shot in mild indignation, never mind anger, and that was to the visitors’ credit.

If Postecoglou asked them to step it up in an attacking sense after the interval, they took him at his word. And what a moment from McGregor, who temporarily morphed into a prime Paul Scholes to give Celtic a precious lead.

Liel Abada won the ball high up the park, and Sviatchenko sliced Turnbull’s cross behind for a corner. When Turnbull’s dead-ball delivery was nodded to the edge of the box, the Celtic captain took the ball beautifully on his chest, and cushioned a sensational volley into Lossl’s top left-hand corner.

Abada hadn’t been quite as effective on the right as he had been in his half an hour or so last week, and it was no surprise to see James Forrest coming on to replace him on the right of the attack. He would soon play a pivotal role in the evening, but now how he would have wanted.

First, out of nothing, Celtic survived a massive scare when Bain somehow made a total hash of dealing with a routine cross from Raphael Onyedika, but fortunately for him no home player saw it coming and the ball was shepherded to safety.

Then the turning point. Edouard took a high ball out of the sky with a great touch and fed it into Turnbull, who immediately flicked it on to Forrest in the area. His first effort was blocked, but the ball landed back at his feet, leaving him with just the keeper to beat.

If he was at full sharpness, it was a chance you would have backed him to take every day of the week, but his placed shot went agonisingly wide of the post.

Within seconds of staring a two-goal deficit in the face, Midtjylland were level, as Celtic and Forrest were punished.

A simple dinked ball over the top of the Celtic defence saw Mabil beat the offside trap with a clever run, and he nodded home past Bain.

Despite his earlier miss, Forrest looked full of confidence, and a couple of mazy dribbles had the home defence in panic mode. And after a lull in proceedings, he had another great opportunity with just seven minutes remaining.

A sweeping one-touch attack from Celtic saw Turnbull, Edouard and Christie combine to set Forrest in on goal, but a wonderful last-gasp block from Paulinho denied the winger yet again.

And in the third minute of stoppage time, the moment all Celtic fans had feared arrived. Evander’s dinked ball over the top found Victor Lind in acres of space inside the area, and the sucker punch seemed inevitable. As eyes emerged from between cracks in fingers, they found the youngster had fluffed his lines, and Celtic lived to fight another 30 minutes.

It took just three of those to have them rocking on their heels. A free-kick conceded by Edouard allowed Evander to hook it high in behind again at the second attempt. Celtic were slow to react, and Onyedika had all the time in the world to blast high past Bain from close range to put the Danes ahead in the tie for the first time.

Postecoglou threw on Albian Ajeti and Adam Montgomery at the break, but they could do nothing to turn the tide. Celtic were out, in every conceivable sense.