With a seismic relegation six-pointer against Tottenham to come this weekend, Forest boss Vítor Pereira elected to make eight changes to his starting XI.
That hinted that overturning the 1-0 deficit they held coming into this second leg was some way down his list of priorities, but his rotated side started brightly and fired in an early warning sign when Dilane Bakwa rifled narrowly over from the corner of the area.
Bakwa was heavily involved again as the game’s first big opening came around, with his corner turned towards his own goal by Pedro Bravo, but fortunately for him Elías Ólafsson was on hand to smother the ball on the line.
Forest spent most of the half on the front foot, and their French winger was at the heart of everything good about the visitors.
He came close once more five minutes before the break when some neat interplay with Lorenzo Lucca on the edge of the area ended with Bakwa whistling an effort just over the bar, while the Italian was guilty of skying an effort of his own after receiving a Nikola Milenković knockdown.
The visitors’ pressure eventually told just moments later when a deep delivery was kept alive by Milenković and Nicolás Domínguez craned his neck to brilliantly direct the ball into the far corner beyond the desperate dive of Ólafsson, restoring aggregate parity in the process.
Forest didn’t let up after the break and hit the front for the first time in the tie within 10 minutes of the restart.
Ryan Yates isn’t famed for his goalscoring prowess, but the left-footed rocket he hit from 25 yards which nestled in the corner was taken like someone who knows where the net is.
Midtjylland manager Mike Tullberg was apoplectic on the sidelines as his side were crumbling before his very eyes, but his mood improved a little over 20 minutes from when a loose ball dropped favourably inside the area for Martin Erlić, and his left-footed volley found the top left corner.
The two sides traded late blows in a desperate bid to settle the tie in regulation time, with Cho Gue-sung going close for the hosts, while Elliot Anderson forced Ólafsson into a fine save at the other end, but neither could prevent ET.
Lucca had the ball in the net within 30 seconds of the resumption after he was teed up by Ola Aina only to be denied by the offside flag, and with one of the last moves of ET, Yates was denied his second goal of the evening when he headed home what looked like a late winner, only to be flagged offside seconds later.
An entire 210 minutes across two legs couldn’t separate these two sides, so they were going to battle it out from 12 yards instead.
Despite having the advantage of shooting in front of their own fans, Midtjylland missed their first two penalties through Cho and Aral Şimşir and never recovered, with Edward Chilufya missing their third penalty which, coupled with the Tricky Trees dispatching all three of theirs, sent Forest into a European quarter-final for the first time in 30 years.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ryan Yates (Nottingham Forest)