A harsh lesson for Arsenal, perhaps even a reckoning of sorts. Defeat at Hoffenheim could be written off as an aberration and their humbling by Barcelona excused by the sheer class of the opposition. But on a freezing night in Lower Saxony there was no escape from the cold reality that Arsenal – and by extension, the English club game as a whole – is still some way short of where it needs to be.
Jill Roord and an own goal by Leah Williamson put Wolfsburg firmly into the semi-finals of the Champions League. In truth, they dominated without even being at their best. Certainly they will need to raise their game several notches to trouble the brilliant Barcelona Femení in the last four. But their quick, enterprising, hard-running game was more than good enough here, a reinforcement of the old truth that a team with a plan will usually beat a team with none.
