Hibernian hit by flight delay ahead of trip to face Midtjylland

Hibernian had far from ideal preparations for their Europa League encounter in Denmark after experiencing a five-hour delay for their flight.

David Gray’s squad spent far more time than expected at Edinburgh Airport before flying out for the first leg of their second qualifying-round encounter against Midtjylland.

The disruption came ahead of a tough encounter on Thursday against a side with a solid recent European pedigree.

The Herning-based club reached the Europa League knockout play-offs last season before losing to Real Sociedad home and away. They reached the same stage in 2022-23 having come through their UEFA Conference League group the previous season.

The Danes knocked Celtic out of the Champions League qualifiers in 2021 in Ange Postecoglou’s first two games as Hoops manager and were in the group stage the previous season, securing draws against Liverpool and Atalanta.

Last season’s Danish Superliga runners-up began their domestic campaign on Sunday with a 3-3 home draw against Odense.

Hibs head coach David Gray told BBC Scotland: “We know if we play to our maximum we’re a very good side but we know we need to be at that level because this is a very tough tie.

“They are a good side, well coached, but we know what we’ve done last season and we’re concentrating on what we can do.

“This is a tie over 180 minutes, so you need to remember if you go a goal up or a goal down early there’s still a lot of football still to be played.”

The Hibs squad includes record signing Thibault Klidje, the Togo international striker who recently joined from Luzern.