European nights at Celtic Park are more often than not unforgettable experiences but sometimes the magic goes missing.

Wednesday night may have been one of those rare, flat nights under the floodlights but no one at Celtic was under any illusions following the 2-0 defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach.

The manager, players and fans were united in accepting they were beaten by the better team and there's still a long way to go before reaching the standard of the Germans on the Champions League stage.

But Celtic don't have time to wait for the long-term plan to take effect if they want to be playing European football after Christmas.

With most assuming the top two places will go to Barcelona and Manchester City, just three games remain in Celtic's quest to gain a Europa League reprieve.

In what is essentially a third place play-off, Gladbach have the advantage after the first 90 minutes.

Celtic must now better their score when they visit Germany next month if they are to eventually triumph on head-to-head results.

Last month's draw with Manchester City left Celtic in the driving seat but the pressure is back on after Gladbach claimed their first away win in Europe's top club competition since 1977.

Victory on German soil next month will see Celtic regain control of their destiny but just how much can change ahead of the fixture on November 1?

Brendan Rodgers is already picking what would appear to be his preferred backline from an extensive choice of fully-fit defenders so that is unlikely to be tampered with.

It's perhaps frustrating considering it was Kolo Toure's defensive errors which cost Celtic both goals but the longer he can keep his favoured four fit, the quicker he will reap the benefits of a settled defence.

It would be easy to solely blame Toure's mistakes for the defeat, the man himself held his hands up for his slack play, but the result came down to much more than just two blunders.

Gladbach's slick play put Celtic under so much pressure that Craig Gordon went in at half time as arguably the home side's stand-out performer.

Rodgers' men were pinned back, outpaced, outplayed and outclassed in every area of the pitch.

The Bundesliga club had done their research, knowing how to frustrate Scott Brown, close down James Forrest and keep Moussa Dembele out of sight.

Oscar Wendt and Ibrahima Traore kept Celtic's wide men quiet while Christoph Kramer, Tobias Strobl and Jonas Hofmann dominated in central midfield.

A change of shape for the away tie next month might help prevent Celtic from being outnumbered.

Rodgers attempted it for the final 20 minutes on Wednesday but it was too little, too late as they were already being forced to sit deep in their own half.

Leigh Griffiths, Patrick Roberts and Calum McGregor came on to inject fresh life further up the pitch but they still struggled to make a difference.

Griffiths and Roberts formed a front four with Dembele and Sinclair in a desperate search for something in front of goal but a lack of supply from midfield hurt the team.

Using Dembele as a target man didn't pay off and with Rodgers unlikely to play two strikers up front away from home, Griffiths may earn his place back in the starting line-up sooner rather than later.

The striker, who has also been unlucky to miss out at international level for Scotland, has been unable to win his starting berth back after a spell on the treatment table.

Pushing Tierney and Lustig further up the field as wing-backs in the closing stages helped open up space which Forrest and Sinclair were unable to find earlier in the match but it's a tactic that has already failed to work once in the tournament - against Barcelona in Camp Nou.

Persistent passes backwards and a lack of fight frustrated the Celtic Park crowd but it wasn't just their own team's disappointing performance that influenced the atmosphere.

Gladbach silenced the home fans with their confident and entertaining football.

Perhaps the point against Manchester City lifted expectations to an unrealistic level and supporters were almost waiting on a result against the so-called easier of their three opponents.

In reality, though, Celtic learnt the hard way that there is no easy fixture in Group C and if they are to win the battle for the third place spot, at least, then there is still a lot of work to be done.