A CELTIC side that had been reduced to 10 men in the first half with the ordering off of centre-half Virgil van Dijk exited the Europa League last night despite producing a spirited performance against Inter Milan in the San Siro.

The Scottish champions' hopes of progressing to the last 16 of the competition suffered a serious setback when Van Dijk departed the field in the 36th minute after receiving his second yellow card in the space of 11 minutes.

It was a huge challenge for Ronny Deila's side, who had drawn the first leg with Roberto Mancini's team 3-3 at Parkhead last week, to prevail on foreign soil and progress to the next round with a full complement of players.

The loss of their Dutch defender made their task even more daunting.

However, Celtic contained their rivals admirably and were only defeated when Fredy Gaurin unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top left corner of their goal from 25 yards in the 88th minute.

The ovation the Celtic players and their manager received from the away support after the final whistle spoke volumes for how gallantly they had battled during the 90 minutes in Italy specifically and in Europe in the 2014/15 campaign.

Deila made just one change to the side that started against Inter in the first leg and that was up front. John Guidetti, who had come off the bench to score a stoppage-time equaliser seven days before, replaced the injured Leigh Griffiths in attack.

Griffiths had bagged four goals in under a month and will have been disappointed to miss out on this occasion.

Mancini, meanwhile, made two alterations to the Inter side that took to the field in Glasgow. Danilo D'Ambrosio, the pacy 26-year-old left-back, and Hernanes, the €20million Brazilian international midfielder, came in. Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Hugo Campagnaro, who had scored an own goal in the first leg, dropped out.

The first scoring opportunity of the game fell to Gary Mackay-Steven in just the seventh minute.

The winger controlled a diagonal ball from Emilio Izaguirre brilliantly and advanced into the opposition box unchallenged.

His left foot shot was blocked by the legs of the Inter goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo.

The visitors were given a stark reminder of the calibre of opposition they were up against just a minute later when Hernanes skipped past Scott Brown out on the left wing leaving his opponent rooted to the turf.

Stuart Armstrong had what looked to be a strong penalty claim waved away by Slovakian referee Ivan Kruzilak in the 14th minute after he appeared to be barged over by Davide Santon as he bore down on goal. Guidetti also had appeal waved away after being pulled back by Andrea Ranocchia.

Much of the focus going into this game was on the central defensive partnership of Jason Denayer and Virgil van Dijk given the youthful pair's previous misdemeanours in Europe.

They certainly had their work cut out nullifying the threat posed by the twin Inter strikeforce of Mauro Icardi and Rodrigo Palacio.

However, both Denayer and Van Dijk acquitted themselves admirably in intimidating surroundings in the early exchanges in what was an open and entertaining match.

That encouraging start made the latter's departure all the more frustrating for the large travelling support perched high up in the third tier of the Curva Sud.

The Dutch defenders first booking for a foul on Palacio in the 26th minute was needless and stupid.

His second caution for bringing down Icardi was debatable. It certainly looked clumsy more than malicious. The match official, though, had no hesitation in sending him off.

A reshuffle was required and Deila threw on Efe Ambrose at centre-half and removed Mackay-Steven, who had been bright, in the 39th minute. Stefan Johansen switched to right flank leaving Guidetti isolated up front by himself.

Celtic, as has so often been the case in Europe this season, had their keeper Craig Gordon to thank for keeping them in the game after they were reduced to 10 men.

He produced two outstanding saves in the space of five minutes before half-time to ensure his side returned to their dressing room on level terms.

Hernanes whipped the free-kick that Inter were awarded as a result of the Van Dijk ordering off into the Celtic six-yard box and Icardi got his head to it. Gordon showed outstanding reflexes to push it over the crossbar and deny the forward.

The Scotland internationalist diverted a D'Ambrosio shot to safety with the inside of his right heel in 43rd minute, palmed a Hernanes shot wide in the 53rd minute and stopped a Fredy Guarin attempt in the 56th minute.

The 32-year-old's latest fine display in Europe will do his chances no harm of forcing his way back into the national team.

Guidetti made way for James Forrest in the 59th minute and Kris Commons took over from Armstrong in the 78th minute.

Both substitutions were designed to inject some freshness into Celtic's endeavours going forward. But they were unable to threaten the Inter goal.

Losing to Roberto Mancini's side is no disgrace. This Nerazzurri side cost £60million more to assemble.

Xherdan Shaqiri was bought for £13million from Bayern Munich, Gary Medel was brought in from Cardiff City for £10million and Guarin arrived from Porto for £9million.

Deila will have learned greatly from his experiences in the Champions League and Europa League - as his predecessor Neil Lennon did before him.

Young players like Stuart Armstrong, Liam Henderson, Gary Mackay-Steven and Callum McGregor will also benefit from their exposure to such a high level of competition.