Two wonder strikes in extra time in front of a full house at Easter Road tonight ended Hibs hopes of reaching the Europa League group stages.
The stadium was boucing ahead of kick off as David Gray named an unchanged Hibs side following last week’s first-leg draw in Denmark.
For the visitors, it wastwo changes from the first leg with forward Valdemar Andreasen and left-back Paulinho both starting.
Hibs started on the front foot, cheered on by a massive home support andlooked to have taken the lead in the 15th minute when Kieron Bowie tapped home a Jordan Obita cross fom the left but the linesman’s flag went up right away.
A VAR check showed Martin Boyle had strayed offside in the build up and looked to be interfering.
Midtjylland then started to dominate possession and created a number of chances but Jordan Smith was in top form as was his defence.
Shortly after the restart Franculino Dju ean through and coolly slotted the ball past Smith but despite the linesman keeping his flag down the Hibs players were sure that he was offside and another VAR check proved them correct.
Moments later Boyle found Chris Cadden charging into the box again, but his right-foot strike was well saved.
The visitors once again dominated possession but there was no scoring in the 90 minutes although Hibs did have the ball in the net just before the full time whistle but Boyle was clearly offside in the build up.
Shortly after extra time started the visitors opened the scoring when Darío Osorio unleashes a stunner from 25 yards.
The Hibs fans were initially stunned but continued to cheer on their heroes.
Then in added time at the end of the first half of extra time Rocky Bushiri turned in Elie Youan’s cross to score a leveller, sparking mayhem inside the stadium.
With penalties looming, the visitors swapped goalkeepers but it was not necessary because in the 119th minute Brazilian striker Junior Brumado won the tie with an outrageous overhead, bicycle kick.
“It’s taken three wonder strikes across the 210 minutes to beat us,” Hibs boss David Gray told BBC Scotland.
“The players gave us everything, the atmosphere, everything around it, was fantastic.
“One thing I’ll never do is accept losing games of football but I can’t ask the players for any more than what they’ve given me tonight.”
Hibernian now drop into Conference League qualifying where they will face Partizan Belgrade next week.
“We just need to find another way now,” Gray added.
“We’ve got a tough tie in the Conference League but it’s still an opportunity for us and we need to remember that.
“When Partizan comes round it’s going to be a real tough test but it’s the reward for playing in Europe.”
Hibs: Smith, O’Hora, Bushiri, Iredale, C Cadden, Mulligan, Levitt, Obita, McGrath, Bowie, Boyle.
Substitutes: Sallinger, Johnson, Ekpiteta, Youan, Alasana, Klidje, N Cadden, Hoilett, Megwa, MacIntyre, Campbell.
Midtjylland: Lossl, Mbabu, Lee, Bech, Paulinho, Osorio, Bravo, Sorensen, Simsir, Franculino, Andreasen.
Substitutes: Olafsson, Selin, Gabriel, Chilufya, Castillo, Bjerge, Johannesen, Krubally, Gogorza, Jensen, Brumado.
