CELTIC'S Europa League dream was ended in the San Siro as Inter Milan beat the 10-man Scottish champions 1-0.

Needing to score after the 3-3 stalemate in last week's first leg in Glasgow, Ronny Deila's men performed admirably, only to be undone by Fredy Guarin's wonder strike four minutes from time.

In truth, the Scottish champions looked in control in the first half until centre-half Virgil van Dijk was dismissed for a second yellow card on 37 minutes.

From then on Celtic had Craig Gordon to thank with a host of saves as the 10 men from Glasgow were forced to hit on the break.

In the end they could not grab the crucial goal that would see them through. Instead, it was Inter that would pop up in the dying minutes to put the tie to bed to go through 4-3 on aggregate.

It could have been so different, however. After just six minutes Celtic had a glorious chance to take a shock lead in the San Siro.

Gary Mackay-Steven took a high through ball in his stride to break into the Inter box and unleash an effort at goal, only for Juan Pablo Carrizo to fly out from his goal and block.

Just seven minutes later the Scots had a massive shout for a penalty waved away by Ivan Kruzliak. Stuart Armstrong, one of the Hoops heroes from the first leg, burst into the area after getting goal side of Davide Santon.

The former Dundee United star was about to pull the trigger when the Italian full-back's nudge in the back sent him sprawling on the turf, only for the referee to wave play on.

While Celtic looked purposeful in attack, the hosts - firm in the knowledge that 0-0 would see them through - were less convincing in their forays forward.

With the visitors controlling large spells of possession, Roberto Mancini's men showed industry down the flanks sporadically only for their final ball to let them down.

As Celtic began to assert themselves in the game, a moment of madness from Van Dijk turned the game on its head.

Having already been booked, the Dutchman stupidly bundled into the back of Mauro Icardi 30 yards from goal. Kruzliak had no hesitation to send him off.

With Efe Ambrose coming on at centre-half with Mackay-Steven sacrificed, Inter began to use their man advantage with half-time approaching.

First a poor clearance from Scott Brown afforded Xherdan Shaqiri the opportunity to shoot at goal from 10 yards only for Jason Denayer to block, with Craig Gordon doing brilliantly to block Danilo D'Ambrosio's rebound.

The Scotland internationalist began the second half in similar form as he threw himself low to his right to palm away Hernanes' goal-bound drive.

Three minutes later he came to Celtic's rescue again. Guarin's reverse pass was read by Icardi with Ambrose losing his man. It seemed a certain goal only for Gordon to spread himself well to block.

The two men who scored against the Hoops last week almost broke the deadlock on 66 minutes. A dinked through ball to Rodrigo Palacio caught the Celtic defence napping. He nodded it back across goal to the unmarked Shaqiri five yards out, but the Swiss couldn't adjust quickly enough to direct it on target.

James Forrest and Kris Commons were thrown on by Deila as the Glasgow club desperately searched for that vital goal.

But as they pressed at one end, a stretched Celtic team were eventually caught out four minutes from time.

Thirty yards out Guarin had the ball shuffled to him, and the Colombian rocketed an unstoppable shot across goal and high beyond the despairing dive of Gordon.

It was slack play from Ambrose, who was slow to get out to block, with many Celtic fans surely wondering if Van Dijk would have allowed the Inter man such space.

It would be a sad ending to an inspired night in Milan for Celtic.